Seeds of Discord: The Rejected Scouts of the Guardian Senshi
by purplerose69
Summary: The Scouts have a new challenge: Facing Six Senshi who have seem to have gone rogue. Why? They have yet to find out, but it seems to be a grudge from their past lives. These senshi of the invade Earth with Seeds of Discord that waken sin within people, and wage wars of love and vengence as they aim to break down everything the Scouts have accomplished. Why? Pure Chaos of course.
1. Chapter 1

**Prologue: Discord Begins**

_She looked upon what she had created. Her long violet hair, fluttered against her skin.  
A following of those planetary Senshi as neglected as she was. They had hall been rejected. Not good enough. It had been more than a single Millennia of their planetary neglect to the Guardiandom, and all it entailed . But their generation was going to take stand.  
The Moon Kingdom had not finished its battle. It would finish it here on Earth, and end the reign of that empire.  
Beryl had started it. They'd watched long ago as they fell. Defeating Galaxia had shown her where they were now.  
Shadows, and the dark corners of the galaxy had been their hiding space. Even Galaxia hadn't known of their presence; few knew they had survived the war on the Moon long ago. _

_She looked to the round golden item in her hand. Her creation. Discord was always her game. It was a shame they never wanted it on their side...especially since they accepted others with similar powers. _

_But now her path was clear. The six of them would unite under her lead.  
Now was their time.  
That which was small will over take that which is tyrant,  
That which overshadowed them,  
They would emerge from the shadows,_

_and strip the Guardian Senshi of their title. _

_For the Earth __Cannot be __Protected __From __The __Seeds __Of __Darkness._

* * *

"Serena, you know I'm not going anywhere."

"Your not?"

"No, after all that I think overseas schooling is…. Really not for me." Darien looked at his pile of books. "I think I'll study local for now. I'm sure more opportunities will arise. I think I'll have my hands full for a while." He sighed.

"But I don't want you to stay just for me…well I do, but-" Serena twiddled her hair between her fingers.

"No, no. I mean I want to stay with you, but I think that – well travel is a little to say that-but-"

Serena nodded. She understood. His last attempt to travel had ended in Galaxia's snatching of his heart seed. She liked it better when he was home, safe with her. "Well I'm happy I get to spend more time with you."

"Me too." Darien smiled at her. "Hopefully a little peace for a while. Even if I do have…all that reading to do."

Serena, ignorant to his subtle hints towards the work he had to get done, nuzzled herself in his shoulder. Darien was home. The scouts were back. Galaxia was gone. At least for a while she could be happy in this bliss.

* * *

_"Sedna…" She stood before her thrown, as she watched the pale blue haired woman emerge from the shadows._

_"Yes?" Sedna asked, nodding her head to their appointed leader._

_She turned and looked beyond Sedna. "Varune I can see you there."_

_"I'll handle this first one Varune. The second one we'll go together?" Sedna said over her shoulder to the man in the shadows._

_"If that's what you want." Varune nodded his head and disappeared._

_"Sedna, Take the first, the first seed of Darkness into the Earth. Turn them against each other and the reborn heirs of the planets will fail to protect them. Let them know of our presence."_

_"Which one is it?" Sedna looked to the collection of red seeds, glowing with a dark aura. _

_"Toil. A good start. A good opener. Awaken the people of the Earth to their own inner demonic potential. Then they'll come out, for a fight, and we'll give them it. Introduce the Guardian Senshi to their past. I'm sure it was a past they, as the darling and protected generation, were shielded from and we'll open their eyes to the chaos they've caused us to entice. Awaken your powers of the deepest waters and do this successfully Sedna._"

_Of course. As a fellow rejected sister of the planets, I'll make good use of this."_

"_I know you will. I know you will._

_She watched her go. She knew well that Varune would watch Sedna. Senda and the others worked under her because purely her powers were the most fearful of all.__ Her powers of chaos and war were mostly the reason she had been rejected from the inner circle; protecting a pathetic Silver Empire, along with the others. Over looked, or rejected._

_But now, they would overcome. Darkness would invade what they have protected from Darkness for so long. Their rebirth was meant for a new start. A new era is what they would get._

_She smiled as she looked to her hand, holding a single golden fruit._

_Now, Discord would ensue._


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 1: Toil n'Trouble**

"So what do we do now Luna?"

"Finish up with your education. You girls have one more year of high school." Artemis bumped in.

"Some of you also have promising futures. We'll let the course run itself, when the time comes, and I'm certain we'll know when the new Millennium will arise and Serena and Darien-"

Serena's eyes gleamed. "We'll get married!"

"Apparently she missed the fact that only _some_ of us have promising futures." Raye remarked to Ami who knew already she had a good chance of becoming a doctor.

"REI!" Serena growled.

"Now, now Serena, just because you might not be the smartest, or most athletic, or most talented…or –" The scouts waited for Luna to finish, although they'd been already redeemed within their own niche. "-you will have to run an empire in the future as you've seen."

"You scouts must remember, there are many people out there that will be tempted by dark forces. We can't ever be truly sure that the universe is always safe." Artemis reminded.

"So our jobs as scouts will always stand." Lita leaned back.

"I don't know if I mind. It'd be weird if we weren't." Mina shrugged.

"I just hope it doesn't get in the way of us having our own lives…at least a bit." Raye thought out loud.

"I agree. I hope we can find a good balance." Amy nodded.

"For your girls sake, I hope you guys get a break. Balance it out a bit." Artemis spoke words they all thought.

They nodded together in agreement.

* * *

Sedna walked along the streets of Tokyo. Her short pale blue curly hair flounced around her like a classical movie star's bob, in a black dress and a blue fur shall that wrapped around her. Her eyes looked from beneath a dark pair of sunglasses.

"These humans really do take the word hard work to a new level, it should be hard to find someone to plant this Seed. Queen Darling of Discord was right, Earth humans are full of chaos and strife." She looked at her reflection in a shop window. "As a woman I do feel a bit of a rival towards her, but … she really does have the cake when it comes to the most power." Sedna spoke to herself as she nearly turned the corner when she heard an argument between a road worker and one who seemed to be his boss.

_"But Sir, I've worked far past the hours I'm supposed to. My shift should have ended-"_

_"Well Dai, I'm sure you have but the roads don't fix themselves. And neither do the bricks stack."_

She looked. "Dai" was a large man, far larger than his boss, but it didn't' seem to matter.

_"I have a family. Can't I at least get a pay for-"_

"_Think of it more as a community service."_

_"But they need me at home and I haven't had a decent pay-"_

_"You got a job Daichi, be happy I don't fire you." His boss patted him on the back and whipped the sweat off his hand on his handkerchief before walking away._

"Dammit." Daichi kicked the nearby wall with force. "Damn overworked all the time."

Sedna smiled. He was hostile. He was overworked. This was an easy find. Now…how should she go about this?

She walked over to the large and slightly sluggish man.

"Need a job hun?" Her high pitch voice rang into the air.

"Can't you see I –" He started. "Why?" His eyes slanted at his.

"I gotta good boss. Better than that smuck. Follow me darlin' I'll find you something better. You over worked thing, it must be hot and bothered. I'd be downright angry if I was worked to the bone like that? All that _toil…"_

"Mam, uh…well you said it right…so, I guess It can't hurt."

"That's the spirit, now follow me." Sedna turned the corner and let him follow her down the block to where she'd seen the perfect spot.

"What's your name even?" Daichi's large build made him an awkward man to discretely move around.

"…Mareen. Mareen Sedna, doll. But that don't matter. Just call me Mareen." She turned down an empty dark ally way.

"What are we doing here?" He asked. "This ain't no work-building?"

"Ah, you caught on." She tore off her shall and in one quick movement, "Maureen" didn't look so innocent. Her bodysuit was a deep blue, with a folded material that held her breasts like a bra in a dull periwinkle blue fanning out, reminiscent of shells, and a skirt kind of like the scouts but with the same rounded folds as her "bra" that dipped low in the back, to reveal its blackish color on the inside. She had a choker and her black boots had fish-nets beneath them. A symbol glowed on her forehead for a minute before disappearing into a faint outline.

"Who-Who are you?"

"Sedna. Rejected and Powerful Planetary goddess of the Deepest and Darkest pits of the Ocean, and you my dear-" Suddenly black tentacles took his arms and legs and confined him at the flick of her hand.

"Wha?!"

"I love that trick don't you? I don't even need to call that one out anymore. So many years to practice and now its coming to good use" Sedna smiled deviously almost squealing. "Now, remember all that anguish about your hard work and no play? Good." She pulled out a glowing black seed, small, but noticeable enough to see a purple marking on it like a ghostly face. It floated in the palm of her hand.

"Seed of Toil, awaken within this man and sprout in the qualms of his strain and spread this anguish into the world." She pushed it into his chest suddenly. She simply watched as he screamed in terror and pain.

Suddenly the black glow in his chest sprouted black vines that covered his body twisting until what came out didn't look human anymore.

"_PonoPono will spread the Toil. Pono-Pono doesn't like to be overworked."_

"Good boy." She tapped the creature's large muscles. His red skin and high, standing straight up black hair, in a workers vest. Kind of a hulk-ish look she thought. "Now, lets see what kind of toil we can spread to these humans. In the words of our darling leader, "What is life without a little discord" ?"

* * *

"You know, I like the spare time but what do we do now? I mean now that we don't have school, or a reason to cook a huge lunch, what do we do with all this spare time?" Lita leaned back.

"Uhm we look for a nice hunk of boyfriend that's what." Mina smiled.

"That's right, Serena shouldn't be the only one around here with boyfriend." Rei mentioned.

"I never said I had to be." Serena made a face to Rei. "Do you think it's weird that Michelle doesn't have a boyfriend? She's so pretty."

"I think that they're too focused on their work as scouts. Plus she seems happy with Amara. They seem close, even as cousins." Ami reasoned.

"But you know, I feel bad for Setsuna. We haven't seen much of her since Rini returned to the future. That's got to be lonely." Rei mentioned. She remembered when she had been lonely in her own psychic ways.

Lita put her hands behind her head. "Yea I know what you mean. But maybe it's their nature. I mean Michelle and Amara do their own thing most of the time. Maybe that's just the way they are."

"Hey, guys have you noticed- uhm the icecream shop is closed." Ami pointed at the door.

"What?"

They looked at the door. Mina peered in. She knocked. "Hello? Hello?"

"Hey isn't that Lizzie?" Rei said pointing at a seat by the widow. They knocked and Lizzie opened the door.

"Hey guys."

"What's going on? Why is it closed?" Serena asked. She felt her stomach growl.

"I'm not sure. I came in for an afternoon shift today. I listened to the message machine and everyone called in saying they were sick of being overworked."

"Overworked?" Ami asked.

"We've been short shifts ever since summer started. People go on vacations. I don't mind the work, but by the time I got here it was closed. I wanted to open but I can't by myself. I've never seen all of our employees not come on one day..." Lizzie sighed.

"Speaking of… did you guys actually look down the street?" Lita poked her head out of the window.

"What? Why?" Rei asked.

"It's a ghost town guys. Nobody seems like their working."

"Either we have a serious disease of Lazy-Serena-Flu, or-"

"Rei…that's mean." Serena looked cross.

"Okay, well we'll go try some other places. Don't over-work yourself either Lizzie!" Mina nodded and they left.

"That's just weird." Lita said.

"Do you think somethings up?" Rei said.

"I hope not we just started the summer, I wanted to go window shopping." Lita complained.

"I wanted to go _boy_ window shopping." Mina sighed.

"I hate to say it guys but it really seems like the towns declining." Artemis chimed in.

"Artemis?" Mina turned.

Luna and Artemis where behind them.

"We were just going for a stroll and noticed the same thing. Something's strange is going on." Luna said.

_"AHHHH!"_

"What was that!?" Mina asked.

Luna stood next to them and pounced. "I'll go check it out girls, but get ready to transform. I feel a dark energy."

"So much for no enemies to fight this summer…lets go guys." Lita started, leading them off to the scream.

"Pono, I want you to spread the seeds to everyone you see." Sedna floated above as PonoPono had a ghostly face on his chest that released more dark seeds out at the group of people.

"Hey, you!" Lita proclaimed boldly. "Stop hurting those people!"

"Hah, you think he's hurting people? He's just awakening their inner discord!" She giggled, as the people who'd been effected eyes glowed red. Suddenly they were in a crowd of disgruntled people, who happened to be quite happy leaving their task at hand. "Show these guys what it means to be overworked."

"They look like overworked zombies." Rei backed up. "Do you think that's where everyone went?"

"We should have transformed first." Lita said.

"You think? What'd you yell out like that for?" Mina complained.

"I haven't heard this much complaining since –" Serena plugged her ears, as the people left their jobs, mad and complaining, red eyed.

"Since you failed your last final?" Rei dug.

"Oh stop. Come on guys we have to find a way out of here." Ami sighed.

"Over here. I see a break in the crowd." Mina said. The group of them ran towards the street's corner and hid behind it.

"At least they're a little slow." Rei said. "You have any idea what this is Luna?"

"Not yet. But Artemis and I will stay close. I'd change now."

"Right."

_****Scout Crystal Makeup*****_

"Good PonoPono. Most of the downtown is already seeded." Sedna smiled at the chaos. People were really over worked here. Desperate for their own freedom into sloth and laziness. It was a corrupt world beneath all of the glamor wasn't it?

"PonoPono does a good job."

"Yes. Soon PonoPono can rest." Sedna smiled down her arms crossed, watching everything happily.

"You can't rest just yet!"

"Who's that?!" Sedna looked around.

"It's us the Sailor Scouts, Protectors of the Earth." Mars yelled out.

"That's right. It's not fair to take over the city, people work hard for good money." Jupiter proclaimed.

"And people appreciate the hard work. Customers and Workers alike." Venus agreed.

"Just because someone works a lot doesn't mean it's a bad thing. It can help you grow and become stronger and smarter." Mercury nodded.

"And we won't let people like you continue to tare our society apart. In the name of the Moon, We will punish you!" Sailor Moon proclaimed.

"Ah, so the Sailor Scouts have arrived. I new this moment would come sooner or later. I'm so happy to finally meet you, like this. After all this time." Sedna smiled.

"Who are you? And why are you doing this?" Venus asked.

"You'll find out soon enough. But all your talk about hard work, lets see if you scouts aren't a little over-worked yourself." Senda smiled. "Pono, make them work a little."

_"Brick-Layer-Smash!_"

The scouts parted in different directions as a huge black brick nearly dropped onto them.

"Guess he doesn't just release those seeds from his chest." Jupiter looked at the hulk-like creature.

"But he's definitely not a monster. Theirs a larger seed inside of him. It's spreading out a dark energy." Mercury scanned Pono. "Looks like somewhere beneath all that is a construction worker."

"Then Serena, you better heal it. Quick." Mars looked to Sailor Moon.

"I can try, but will it even work? I mean look at that thing." Sailor Moon swallowed.

"Oh Serena, you've saved the world, you can handle a monster." Luna piped in.

"Why not spread the love Pono, I'm sure these scouts must be a little tired of dodging Bricks."

Pono puffed out his chest and the jagged eyes and mouth of the ghost like-face of purple on his chest released more seeds.

"Don't let them get near you guys." Mercury called out.

"AGGGH!"

Sailor Moon opened her eyes to see Mars, Jupiter and Venus on the ground.

"What happened?" She asked.

"I'm not sure." Mercury said. "I think they were-"

_"I don't want to scout right now. I'm always at the temple, there's no time for me…"_

"Why do we always have to do this? We never have time to find boyfriends…"

"I never have time anymore…I missed out on the volleyball league this year too and-"

"Ahahaha, not as well rounded as you thought!" Sedna giggled, her red lips in a sly smile and her eyes darting to the two scouts left. The others found themselves in a trance, no more dangerous than a sleeping baby. "Mercury, I'm glad it wasn't you. It's nice to meet a fellow guardian of water face to face."

"Fellow? Your no Sailor Scout."

"On the contrary, I control the elemental domain of water as well and honestly there isn't room for two of us it seems. It's too bad the other one of you wasn't here, I could finish you guys off myself."

"The other one?" Sailor Moon swallowed. She whispered, "Do you think she knows about Sailor Neptune?"

"Ahaha, you pathetic fools have no clue what's coming. Pono, fix them up good!"

"Let's get rumbling!" His hand suddenly turned into a street drill and he split a large crack in the pavement separating the two scouts.

"I don't like this." Sailor Moon complained.

"Actually, It's too bad you two didn't succumb. It could have been easier." Sedna shrugged.

"I think hard work develops good work ethic and character. I don't mind working harder, even if you don't get recognition it will come to help in the end." Mercury smiled.

"Honestly, I don't really feel to pressured…" Sailor Moon looked up innocently.

"Oh be serious Serena, you never overwork yourself." Luna rolled her eyes.

_"BRICK-LAYER-SMASH!_"

"Watch out Sailor Moon!" Mercury called out as a large brick formed overtop of her.

"AHH!" Sailor Moon called out.

**WHOOSH**

"Tuxedo Mask!" SM smiled. "Man, I missed that."

"Didn't know you guys would get in this much trouble going for icecream." He said setting her down next to Mercury.

"I hope you don't feel overworked Tuxedo Mask." Mercury warned.

"Not at all. I'm nearly caught up on my books. It's been a while... don't mind this stuff either."

"How can we get him to stop dropping bricks?" Sailor Moon asked nervously.

"I think if we can get her away from …the monster, we might be able to confuse him and get her at the same time. I have an idea. Just be ready Sailor Moon." Mercury looked to SM.

She nodded. "Sounds good."

"Ah so we've upped the odds, this should be fun." Sedna's eyes caught them in an iron stare.

"Don't underestimate us! _Mercury Bubble Blast!"_

"Ah!" Sedna called out when suddenly they were surrounded by fog. "What the –"

"Pono-Pono, hates fog!" Pono yelled out trapped in the fog on his own.

"Over here!" Mercury called out landing close to Sedna.

"BRICK-LAYER-'

"No! Pono don't!" Senda called out at the last minute, as she noticed the brick forming above her.

Mercury pounced away at the last minute.

"AH!"

**"_SEDNA!"_**

"Now Sailor Moon!" Mercury landed beside her as Pono got even more confused.

"Mhm." Sailor Moont took out her Eternal Tiare. _"Starlight Honeymoon Therapy Kiss!"_

"AGHHH!"

Daichi returned to normal and the fog lifted as the seed left his body. But it darted away instead of disappearing, over near the top of a building.

"Where did it go?" Mercury asked.

"What's going on?" Jupiter asked as they too recovered now that the originating seed had been "de-seeded".

"Oh you guys were just a little overworked…" Sailor Moon smiled cheesily.

"Where did that evil woman go?" Venus asked.

"She didn't get hit by the brick …" Mercury noticed the dent in the pavement.

"Over here."

They looked up. The pale blue haired woman was beside a slightly taller man, with black long hair with pale blue tips, hair parted in the middle, past his aqua-pale eyes. He had what looked like the skulls of a strange sea-creature on his shoulders as protection, and a dull blue-green open vest and black slouch pants and sandals. His staff had a full skull on the end of it with horns which in between an orb of blue.

"Who are you guys?" Mars asked.

"Apparently Sailor Moon's not the only one whose got someone to come to her rescue." Venus teased.

"Should we tell them?" Varune looked to Sedna.

"They probably don't even know. Lets give them a little introduction for fun." Sedna looked narrowly at them. "My name is Sedna of the Oceans Deep. This is Varune of the Under Celestial Ocean, here to create a little conflict and disharmony in your little world."

"How come the Seed-thing, didn't get destroyed?" Sailor Moon asked, questioning her own powers.

"The Discord Seed of Toil isn't that easy to get rid of. In sloth or in exhaustion there are always people who suffer in the sins of this world. Discord is natural. Darkness is just as present in the world as Light. You'll find that everything you worked for, all this peace it can't exist on it's own. Chaos comes naturally." Varune said in a cool deep voice.

"You may not know what is going on, but I'm sure that kind of negligence comes natural to your type." Sedna said with a smirk.

"_Our type?_ Who are you two to talk! You guys nearly turned everyone into over-worked zombies!" Jupiter threatened.

"Don't speak so soon. You don't have such a clean slate yourself. See you next time. Don't expect it to go this smooth either." Varune warned before the two disappeared.

"What's going on guys? Who are they…" Mina said as they left.

"Scouts." Artemis said.

Tuxedo Mask and the Scouts looked back towards Artemis and Luna.

"I'm afraid we need to have a scout meeting, stat."


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 2: Revelations**

"What was that about?" Rei asked leaning back agains the cushions at their temple meet.

"Those two are beyond creepy, I mean did you hear how they made us seem like we were clueless of something?" Mina added.

"And the girl one, Sedna I think, she seemed to know who I was, and possibly Sailor Neptune." Ami added.

"I wonder if we should tell Neptune and Uranus about all this then…It might be better to have them around next time they strike." Lita wondered.

"I don't like how I couldn't get rid of that seed-thing." Serena looked a little disappointed.

"I wouldn't worry about it too much Serena, you still saved everyone from the zombie- seedlings and that construction worker from being a monster." Darien piped in.

"So Luna, what exactly did you want to tell us in this meeting?" Rei asked.

"Girls, I'm afraid we might know who those two are."

"Why do you say it like that Luna?" Ami asked.

"Because, those two, although none of you may have known them well yourselves in your past life, are …well are Planetary Sailor Scouts as well." Artemis explained.

"But how? I thought Pluto was the last planet?" Mina asked.

"Actually there are various other, smaller planets in the solar system unrecognized by the Earth culture as true "planets'." Ami explained.

"Ami is right. There are many Sailor Scouts that exist in the universe. Some of them we've never met." Artemis explained. "Other planets in our vast solar system also are Sailor Scouts, but not always in the same sense that you guys are used to."

"Sedna and Varune are similar to the names of two of the smaller planets in our galaxy. Their names like your own planetary titles have been passed on." Luna explained.

"What bothers me is why they've come back and are fighting against us…"Artemis wondered.

"Are there others like them?" Lita asked.

"They're very well might be. But we can't be sure if there's something else at work here…until we gather more information…" Luna asked.

"How come they don't look like us transformed…or work with us?" Mina asked.

"Not all Sailor Scouts are soldiers vowed to protect the Silver Crystal and the Moon Kingdom. Theirs a large amount of –process that goes into that I'm afraid." Artemis looked warily to Luna. "Galaxia took advantage of that for her own recruits."

"I don't understand why they weren't re-born on Earth with everyone else either…." Darien inquired.

"Not all people of the universe were stricken by that war. If they weren't at the Moon during that time there's a good chance they could have survived. Most people were asked to support the fight, but it wasnt mandatory. You scouts were the Guardian Senshi of the Moon and the Silver Crystal. It makes sense for all of you to be reborn. We don't know much about the situation ourselves, but I think there's something they know that we don't from the past. Somethings haven't returned to us in our own rebirth. Until then, we need to make sure they don't infect the people with those Dark Seeds. Hopefully next time we can stop them from spreading…"

"It's strange to think that. But your're right, when Galaxia fought us we did meet more Scouts…" Serena recalled.

"Plus people like Allan and Ann came from a different planet too right? They weren't scouts but we don't know much about whats out there do we." Lita added.

"According to my knowledge there's at the most 10 other masses possibly recognized planets that might have their own guardian, to our own knowledge on Earth…do you think we've made 10 more enemies somehow?" Ami asked.

"Unless they reveal themselves and why their doing this, I'm afraid we'll just have to keep fighting." Luna sighed.

"It couldn't hurt to get our hands on a Seed so we can figure out what they are exactly." Artemis added. "I think it's time we talked to the other scouts too. At least two more hands on the wheel might really help us get down to the bottom of it."

"What about my powers? Is there anything else I can do …" Serena played with the end of her hair.

"I don't know. It might take a little more than your Scepter this time Serena. We're going against our own here. It might be a job for the Silver Crystal, but we'll know more when the time comes."

Serena felt Darien's hand link into hers. At least this time she had everyone she needed with her for support.

* * *

"I don't like them. They have no clue what even happened in the past. The sheltered brats." Sedna seemed much less put together. "We didn't spread the Seed as much as I'd hoped to."

"Relax." Varune put his hand on her back. "We'll get another chance. I think next time…we need to be more…discrete. If we want the seeds to spread like-"

_"Like I want? I really hope this is all a mutual decision-"_

"Of course it is." Varune bowed to the shadowed Woman.

" Are you going to give us another chance?" Sedna said.

"Yes. I think it's good that they know where here. But Varone is right; we must now inflict the world with these seeds of strife. Let the next Kakoi demon which emerges emerge slow. Make sure this one lasts longer, otherwise, I'm quite sure Ixion is eager to take your place in spreading the seeds."

The pair turned, and saw Ixion in the shadows. His deep gold eyes through his reddish-dark brown wavy locks that hit past his eyes. "I only hope to explore the Earth and exploit it's treasures and release it's evils. But for now, I take it the pair of you have it under control?" Ixion turned and left.

"Exploit its treasures?" Sedna raised a brow at the metaphorical duality of his words. She knew of Ixion's ways, let alone his history with the planets.

"We'll take it from here." Varone seemingly ignored Ixion speaking to the shadow.

"Then here's the next Seed. We'll leave Toil for now." They watched as from the apple which pulsated a dark energy, Toil was returned. "Now, let's see what fun we can have in spreading a bit of Amnesia throughout the world? It's bound to bring some good old fashion Chaos don't you think?"


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 3: Summer Studies**

"So where do you want to find the next one to seed this Seedling in?" Sedna looked over the town from above.

"It is difficult. Any old man or women would likely forget their own location if we asked." Varune scanned the town.

"Which is no good. We need someone who can withstand the Imperial Scouts if they interfere again." Sedna shook her head.

"Someone young with vitality. I have an idea. Why don't you leave this one to me?" Varune said.

"Your starting to sound like Ixion you know." She crossed her arms and raised her brow.

"You know I don't approve of his antics…or his taste. But believe me Sedna, I'm only doing this for us. Plus, what fun could a petty human be anyway?"

"Oh, doll nothing compared to me. I'll keep an eye out for the Sailor Scout pack. Ta-ta."

Varune looked around. He'd have to find a prime place to find just the right type for this one.

* * *

"So you're telling me, you still study even though its Summer Ami? I mean we're going on our last year of high school. We're almost done!" Mina asked.

"I can't help it. Next year our finals will determine if we can get into a University. Plus there's cram schools and summer school classes I could take to get ahead." Ami said putting her book back into her purse as they sat out on the outdoor chairs outside the diner. "You'd be surprised how much you forget. Even now looking over some of this stuff, I –"

"I don't know how you do it." Rei had been overlooking it. "That's advanced. Like University advanced. You're way ahead."

"I just wish I had Greg's memory." Ami sighed before blushing.

"Ah so she doesn't _just_ think about school." Lita teased.

"I'm just happy the diner opened back up." Serena gleamed at her ice cream.

"You really only need the simple things don't you Serena?" Rei said leaning back in her chair as the sun glistened down.

"Hey what was that supposed to mean!?" Serena asked.

"Actually Serena, maybe we should take a summer class… I mean even if it's in our own things…" Mina got to thinking.

"Yea I'd totally take a business management class!" Rei sad.

"Really?" Lita asked.

"Well… I'll have to take over the temple… plus I'm not a bad singer you know, who knows where it'll take me." Rei acted modest.

"Actually that sounds good. Owning my own bakery would be awesome." Lita nodded.

"I'm thinking Acting…do you think they have anything like that?" Mina asked.

"We can only try? I can't remember the classes...at least not all of them. I only looked at the ones that I'd take…."

They all swallowed.

"… Advanced Biology, Chemistry and maybe a Mathamatics or Algebra and-"

"Oh please, you guys can't be serious?" Serena complained.

"What now?" Rei asked.

"It's the summer. We're supposed to forget the rotten school stuff and just relax."

"Oh come on Serena isn't there anything you'd want to do?" Mina asked.

"…Actually that's a good point Mina…" Serena thought.

"Really?" Mina was surprised.

"Yep!" Serena stood up. "The thing I want to do most is spend time with Darien. I mean he is my future right? Actually I'm going to go to his place right now and see what he's up to."

The girls all fell over at once, astonished by Serena's single mindedness.

"Typical Serena isn't it?" Rei retorted.

"Hey, its part of her charm I think." Lita said. "Anyway, lets book it. I want to check them out. Because one way or another I want to open a bakery."

They nodded and walked towards their school.

"Hmm…I don't see a strictly Acting class." Mina looked at the list by the front bulletin board.

"And the business here…it's grouped with statistics classes…" Rei said. "You know maybe …maybe I can run the temple without a class…I've been doing it for this long. Hell I know it like the back of my hand."

"Yea, I could just go at home and practice cooking. Memorize some of my best recipes and a few new ones maybe." Lita shrugged.

"These classes all interfere with the times that I'm supposed to volunteer at the hospital…" Ami bit her lip.

"Well maybe hands on experience is best?" Mina asked.

"Yea Ami, don't fret you're smarter then all of us." Lita nodded.

"I guess I'll just have to read the textbooks on my spare time." Ami nodded.

"OUT OF THE WAY PLEASE!"

They turned to see a girl running at them. She had long brown hair in a large braid of curls, and she stumbled around the corner. Her wide violet eyes looked airy and pale. She kind of reminded them of the way Serena ran to school every morning.

"Woah, sorry, don't mean to get in your way." Rei said as they parted.

"Sorry I'm late for class! I'm so stupid!" She ran up the steps and throught he doors.

"Must be a junior." Mina said.

"Hey look she dropped this." Lita leaned over and grabbed a notebook that said _Mimzy A. Kimoni _ on the front.

"I wonder what summer class she's taking?" Ami asked.

Lita opened the notebook.  
"Well the title on the first page looks like it has a course for a summer catch-up class written in it."

"What does the book say?' Mina asked.

"Its just an agenda. And between the doodles and dates, I'd say there isn't a thing this girl doesn't write down." Lita said wide eyed.

"Serena needs one of those." Rei said lowly. "Actually, we should return it to her."

"Yea but then she'll know we investigated her notebook." Ami said.

"Oh well it was what we had to do to return it." Mina said.

"Well we can't now. The classes are starting. We'll have to give it to her tonight, when the classes end." Rei pointed to the clock.

"Oh yea, maybe we should catch up with Serena. I mean who says she gets to spend her whole summer alone with Darien?" Mina teased.

"Still we didn't shop at all yesterday…" Lita leaned back. "I could really use some new cooking-"

"Say no more. We'll meet up with Serena later. Lets spend a day off relaxing. Who knows when the next attack will be anyway." Rei said.

"You know, I like the way you guys are thinking today. " Mina smiled as the four walked off towards downtown.

* * *

Varune walked down the street. People seemed forgetful…but nobody stood out. He needed someone who he could let the Seed really grow in, but someone who was within a large group, someone-

He stopped. He'd really gone to the wrong area. The School District? He looked at the large building. A High School. Summer was the season the humans forgot what they learned and left to have reckless fun. All the same, anyone here wouldn't be forgetful. They'd be learning to memorize things if anything. He turned to walk away when he heard the sound of worried cries.

"Oh I know I must have dropped it out here. I only have…5 minutes left? Or did the break end at 1:20? I don't remember, I need to pay more attention, but now I can't even remember where I dropped my book! Oh did I forget it at home or-"

Varune turned to see a girl with long brown hair and large pale violet eyes. She had a flower clip in her hair, and a focused stare on the ground.

"Excuse me Miss are you looking for something?"

Mimzy looked up to see an older handsome looking man, with dark black hair. He was wearing a dark grey button down and black slacks. His eyes were a strange color blue, not pale, but not dull.

"I-I- I lost my agenda. It was just a matter of time really…you see I'm always daydreaming and I never really remember where I put things…that's why I'm at the school now, I messed up some grades because of it and need to catch up. But I know I left it out here, without it, I don't know what I'd do-"

"We're all a little forgetful at times." He said smoothly in a monotone voice. "I'll keep an eye out for it, but you know if you put a string on your finger and remember exactly the one thing you think you might forget…"

"…I might remember it. I need tricks like that! I'm sorry I rambled so much. I always forget that I'm talking to a stranger…."

Varune smiled at her. She was perfect. "Tell me, you're in a class with other people who failed too?"

"Yes, I'm not the only one. But some of them just didn't show up. That's a totally different thing."

"I see. But some probably are like you."

"Yes, which I guess should make me feel better."

"Well," Varune put his hand behind his back and the Seed appeared. "If you're going to remember one thing, this should be it…"

Mimzy turned towards him, when Varune pushed the Seed at the her and hit her on the left side of her chest. Before she could comepletely turn into a monster Varune took his chance to finish

"_Don't come out until I call upon you, I want you to spread you're the Seeds of Forgetfulness in this pathetic human form…got that Lethe?"_

Mimzy's eyes glowed red before they glossed over blank. "Sound good Master Varune."

"Good. Now be a good Kakoi and show these Humans how much potential they have for destructive forces like yourself?"

Mimzy left back to class and Varone smiled. He transformed back to his real form and found Sedna, above on a nearby roof.

"So charming a little high-schooler was your plan?"

"I can see Ixion's methods. It's quite easy I'd say. Either way she's a completely forgetful and absent person. Lethe can spread it easily. All the forgetful students will be easily under her control. Disguised in that human theres no reason it can't be spread."

"Good, now we'll sit and wait. If those five little angels come around, we'll make sure to keep them out of our way."


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 4: Forget-Me-Not**

"So you dragged me outside because-"

"Because it's a nice day out Darien! Don't you want to enjoy the summer weather?" Serena clutched his arm, as they walked out from his apartment.

"I guess so. It's just now that I'm caught up on my reading, I'm wondering if I-"

"If you what?" Serena turned to him with bright eyes.

"Well…" Darien swallowed. "If I should go to the University early and take some classes. I missed out on the opportunity to study in the U.S so I want to see what I can learn here that is a bit more broad..."

"...And leave me again…why does everyone want to get back to school now? It's like nobody wants to hang out with me or spend time and-"

"Don't take it personally Serena, I'm down a full year for my University classes. I want to study the histories of other places, politics, and things. There's just so much, and honestly I want to get it done, so I can be with you Serena. We know how the future turns out to a point, I just want to be prepared."

"I understand."

"Plus, this was a long running thought until yesterday." He stretched. "If we do have a new enemy, I mean maybe it's best if I wait, I'm not sure. It might be too distracting."

"I hope their not going to bug us too much." Serena sighed. "I'd really hoped we'd be done with all of it for a while."

"Tell me about it. That last one was a doozy." Darien nodded. "But we have today so what do you want to do?"

"Uhm…well we could go for a romantic stroll in the park…or maybe the swan boats, you know you went on the lake with Rei and not me or…"

"Hey Serena!"

Serena looked up to see Lita, Mina, Rei and Ami, carrying shopping bags.

"What are you guys up to?" Darien asked.

"Oh just a little summer-starter-shopping!" Mina said gleaming.

"Even you Ami? I thought you were going to register for classes?"

"It didn't work out as we'd hoped. I just bought another biology book and –"

"And we almost forgot but we still have that girl's planner!" Rei added."We have to head back, want to come with? Theres a girl that's kind of like you…"

"Like me?" Serena asked.

"Well she's forgetful…in the sense that she was late to class…" Lita added.

"And she forgot her notebook…" Mina added

"And failed… a class. Didn't seem like she'd remember much." Rei finished.

"I didn't fail!" Serena protested.

"I wanted to ask her if she needed a tutor." Ami added.

"That sounds nice of you Ami. We should go then." Darien added.

Serena sighed. "It's true she probably needs it, but then can we do something?"

Darien smiled. "Sure."

They left for the High School to find that the classes were leaving.

_"Hey did you hear?"_

"_What?"_

_"That catch-up class? The students all failed a test, some of them didn't even write their name-"_

_"Really?"_

_"Yea apparently the teacher said that they all just stood there as if they'd forgotten they were at school, and then maimed about and left."_

"Did you hear that?" Lita asked.

"Strange." Mina said. "Guess you're not the worst of em Serena."

"Hey look there she is." Ami nodded ahead.

Mimzy walked out, her books against her chest, and eyes lidded, past them as if they weren't there.

"Did she just, like, snob us out?" Lita asked.

"No way, she was a total scatter brain before." Rei persisted. "And I don't know what that was about, but I got bad vibes from her."

"We should follow her and give it back." Mina concluded. "Maybe that evil duo hit the area today."

"It's a good guess." Darien added looking to Serena.

"Let's help her. I'd hate to be in Summer school, so for her sake, lets do this." Serena nodded.

They left and followed her to the park where she stopped suddenly.

"I can hear you following me." She said.

"Mimzy? We wanted to return your agenda? You walked right past us you know." Lita held it out.

"We figured you'd need it." Rei said.

She turned to them. "I don't need it anymore, there's only one thing I need to remember." She held up her finger with a red bow on it.

"What's that?" Mina asked.

"Bad vibes guys. Bad vibes." Rei whispered.

"To spread the Seeds of Forgetfulness!" She pulled at her shirt down by her neck, where the mark of the seed showed the black face like an evil ghost just above her left breastbone.

"The seeds! Duck guys!" Darien said. They all hit the ground at once as they flew past them. They stood up. They couldn't transform incase Mimzy was in there somewhere. They couldn't expose their identities.

"That's not fair. I must do what I said I'd do, it's the only thing I can remember." Mimzy lept onto a nearby bench and held her finger in the air with the bow. "Remember, Remember, Remember to spread the seeds, Lethe will help you forget all else!"

The red bow suddenly turned into five ribbons that spun out from the bow's strings and tied around the girl's and Darien's neck.

"Aghh I can't breathe!" Lita yelled out, grasping at the red ribbon.

Mina noticed her eyes weren't normal they were red. "Don't you remember us! We have your agenda! You can remember all you need to now!" She said as they all fell to their knees out of breath.

"Can't say the same for you! If you have the strong potential to forget then you are subject to sin! Discord Discord, who will it be, which string will be the first to forget me!?" Lethe sung out plucking each chord, until she landed on Serena's strand.

"Don't!" Darien called out coughing.

"Can't play Romeo when the Julliet doesn't remember you!" Lethe grinned maliciously. She revealed the mark and a seed spun out at Serena.

"AHHHHAHHHH!" Serena yelled as it hit her in the chest and like a spark disappeared.

Varune and Sedna came over calling for her from a branch above. "Let's go Lethe. Ignore these petty humans, and lets spread more."

Serena collapsed as the others came over.

"Serena!" Darien took her and shook her gently.

"Why are we here?" She asked, her eyes glossed over.

Rei sighed. "We just found out Mimzy was taken over by those evil scout guys."

"What's a scout? Mimzy?" Serena tilted her head.

"This isn't happening!" Mina exclaimed.

"Do you know who you are?" Ami asked.

"I'm Serena." She said.

"So she remembers some. This is her one fault isn't it." Lita bit her lip.

"Well she never remembers scout meetings." Rei added.

"But who else are you?" Darien asked.

"Serena."

He sighed.

"What were you trying to do Darien?" Mina asked.

"I think it may get gradually worse. But if it's not going to get better we have a problem if that seed is making her forget things."

"What?"

"She doesn't remember that she's Sailor Moon."


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6: Memories Fade, Memories Anew**

"What can we do? She doesn't even know what's going on…" Lita looked at Serena who was in a bed at Darien's apartment.

"She's completely forgotten being a Sailor Scout…where she lives…what grade she's in…" Mina said looked worried.

"How will she react now that she's forgetting who we are too…?" Rei asked.

"Well…considering how she's acting it seems the more she forgets the more she seems to be sinking back into her own mind." Ami said.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, if you forget most of what you know, the only thing you have left is yourself. It's like a rapid case of Amnesia. The older people at the hospital often grow silent and gone, as if all they know is their own mind. They can't remember… I think that's where the demon of Forgetfulness is most potent." Ami reluctantly admitted.

"So she's acting like a newborn would…observant but not aware of what's going on, because she can't remember what she knew." Lita speculated.

I get the feeling she has forgotten, us…we're taking too long…" Darien said with grief. He recalled the moment Serena couldn't remember him about an hour ago. He tried to get her to wake up but she stared around and asked whom he was. The Seed turns them into passive zombies of an amnesic mind. Maybe that's how she felt when his memory had been erased. Serena was always a little childish, but she had matured. He never thought her forgetful nature, at least when it came to school and sometimes-simple memory in that sense, would be her downfall. They needed a way out of this. "And the worst part is…she's going to forget everything. We can't even heal her because she's the only one that can stop that new Demon." Darien looked stressed, as his gaze moved to Serena who just lay wide blank eyed on the bed.

"Darien's right. Serena's going to keep moving into this dark hole in her mind that's just sucking information in…we need to reverse the Seeds effects to see if we can find a way to get it out." Rei looked cross.

"So we need to help her remember something. Something that would trigger all her memories back." Mina said. "Something powerful."

"Well Serena likes food…and she-" Mars bit her lip. "What if we got Luna to talk to her? Luna started it all."

"We can try. But I see what Mina is saying; something has to jar her memory. Something that runs back possibly farther than Luna." Ami bit her lip.

"Hey, hate to barge in on the party but the cat's got our tail."

They turned to see Amara and Michelle at the door.

"What's wrong? Artemis told us about the sightings of those Fallen Scouts…" Michelle said.

"Serena got seeded by one of them. She's slowly forgetting everything and she's the only one who can heal the girl who has the Demon that reverses it." Mina said.

"Well if there's one thing we can try, would be to use our scout powers to try to awaken her…" Amara looked a little thrown off.

"We can do that?" Rei asked.

"With Darien present in the circle, it might work. His Earth healing powers could help." Artemis nodded.

"If you girls use your powers you might be able to draw Sailor Moon's powers out. Maybe that would stop the dark powers from working." Luna said.

"It's worth a shot." Lita nodded.

They took a circle around Serena.

"This feels so …ritualistic." Rei admitted.

"Well Luna's here but unless we find a really good jarring memory…" Lita admitted.

"Alright…Lets do this." Darien finally piped in. The girls nodded. They each announced their planet, as their symbol appeared on their forehead, hands together around them. The room lit up and suddenly their forces seemed to pull upwards as a black light appeared in Serena's chest at the same time her Moon symbol appeared. It glowed against their own pull but suddenly it retreated as they stopped.

"It didn't work." Mina said stunned.

"I'd really hoped that would counter the –" Amara began.

"She needs the power of her scepter or the crystal…I don't know what else to do…" Michelle looked down on their Moon Princess.

"It's a seed. It really has seeded the discord of forgetfulness in her." Ami looked defeated. "And look she's not even blinking anymore."

"She's become a full fledged Seed-zombie." Rei said defeated.

"I'm going to kick those Seed-Spreader's butts for doing this to her." Lita said peeved.

"I can't allow this. Serena woke me up out of every dilemma I was in. Even when I was brainwashed she found away to get me back. I can't just give up." Darien's fist hit the bed.

Luna looked to Darien. "I don't think it's me that can awaken this blank look from her Darien. I think you need to consider what exactly about Serena's nature brought everyone back…what she did."

"Your right." Darien swallowed.

"Actually give me a minute, and before this gets any worse I have an idea." Luna said and hoped onto the balcony window. "I'll be right back."

They looked at Serena.

"So these two new enemies…they're sending out black seeds that turn people to sins?" Michelle asked.

"Almost. They seem to have one main Seed of a certain instigator of what they call "discord". That spreads out seedlings through its host. We haven't been able to see them closely because last time it returned the one of them called "Sedna"." Ami explained.

"Yea, and don't forget, Serena can heal the person but she can't destroy the seed."

"They really are darkened Scouts aren't they…" Amara speculated looking at Serena.

"Why do you say that?" Mina asked.

"Because, even against Galaxia, we saw that our powers become slightly more equalized against other scouts. If these guys are from Planets, that means their more powerful then the minor Sailors Galaxia controlled. If they're not with us it means their less powerful. But it seems that might have changed; dark energy seems to amplify powers we've never seen present. They also managed to hide in plain sight. This means there's a lot more going on here." Amara explained. Michelle nodded.

"But don't forget," Artemis started. "That same one named Sedna, she seemed to know Mercury and possibly Neptune's powers. I have a feeling their powers are derived from the same element."

"You're saying there's more of us that control water?" Michelle asked.

"Each Planet doesn't have an element, but an area within a specific category to reign." Artemis explained. "Mercury's is a combination of water, but more in the sense of its extensions; bubbles, ice, blasting. Neptune's is more of the sea itself, and the force of water, and considering her mirror it's reflective qualities."

"It's all so complex." Mina commented.

"It's also why the Moon was chosen as the center of the Guardian Scoutdom. Their powers are elite to purity, and as Moons exist, stand out the most within each planetary sky. Many Planets have Moon's so they are also strong in numbers. The Earth's Moon was the home planet of the Moons, but most of your own planets have orbiting Moons where a guardian was chosen to protect, and aid the Planets. These people were often from the Moon or gifted with different abilities at birth." Artemis explained.

"How come we've never heard this before?" Rei asked. "Because Phobos and Demos are Ravens aren't they?"

"Not all Guardians were human, just like Luna and I are not. The Planet's Leader chooses a Guardian. This is part of the way the government was back then. The Imperial Silver Millennium was a lifestyle that had been present for many years. The Earth's people have the shortest life span now, although that wasn't always true. The evils that are present now, weren't present then." Artemis sighed. "The more we remember, the more we realize times have changed. Most of the lifestyle then cannot apply now. We do believe that the core of the way things worked then was ideal, and so we knew one day the Guardian Scouts would have to be awoken. We've never come across anyone from the past like that yet, but we also wouldn't know how to awaken them like you scouts."

"And the worst part is, people who seem to have a grudge from something that happened a long time ago are outdoing us. If they were around we could use the help…or maybe they have something to do with this too." Amara pointed out.

They looked silently to Darien sitting on the edge of Serena's bed. He didn't speak. They'd already tried to talk to her. It always ended in questions. She was one of the zombies that they'd seen passing by to Darien's place; gone, and ignorant of much of anything.

Suddenly they heard Luna at the window sill.

"What did you get Luna?" Artemis asked.

They looked as she placed something beside Darien on the bed. "I remember vividly how passionate Serena was about this after you never returned and remembered. Beryl took you from her and she listened to this nightly. I think this item is a relic that might help run deepest in her heart and mind Darien." She moved it closer to him with her paw.

Darien looked at it. He'd never even thought of it, and Luna was right, it was the one thing that brought him back, and the one thing that they could remember their past by.

The Star Locket.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7: Lights Will Guide You Home**

Darien took the Locket. He opened it.

He remembered the first time he'd seen it. He'd found it in his jacket pocket the first time he'd turned into Tuxedo Mask. It had reminded him of the Princess. Even more so when Peggy Jones had solidified that in her painting, and now, even more ironic knowing what he knew now, that they'd both been chosen as models for Peggy's concepts, which where closely linked to their own past…

and then by giving it to Sailor Moon that same day he'd accidentally returned it to the one girl who'd gave it to him long ago.

He held it in his hand. "Serena, don't you remember this? You have to remember…" He slipped it into hers. Her eyes looked empty at the object.

The melody filled the room in a soothing air.

"_Remember Serena, Please remember…"_

_..._

_She looked around. All she saw was darkness. Where was she? She looked to her hands? Why was she here? Where was here? What was going on? _

_She looked down and for a moment saw her reflection as if the blackness had become liquid._

_Who was…she? Her face. It moved as she moved. _

_Something was missing._

_Something._

_Suddenly she could hear the faint sound, like twinkling lights._

_Yes, twinkling lights, up in the sky. Glowing stronger to the melody. On and off._

_The melody was drawing her in._ _A kind of celestial melody... _

_Faint. Delicate. Stars. _

_She walked forward._

_The louder the melody became the more stars she saw above her._

_The stars seemed familiar. She walked straight and suddenly people surrounded her._

_People without faces. People she didn't know._

_And yet the sky went on for days, just outside…_

_Outside a building…but what building? Its large arches moved past as she walked forward, the sky still twinkling._

_What was this? Why was it drawing her in?_

_She found herself in the middle of the room. Around her people were dancing. In a rush. A dizzy rush. Pairs._

_Why didn't she have a pair too? Or was she someone who was meant to be alone?_

_She was about to turn back towards the twinkling stars when a man, a man with a blank black face, like all the others as if it'd been cut out, took her in for a dance. He had a black …jacket and pants….a white shirt… black hair…_

_She heard her own lips began to hum with the tune._

_So that's what her voice sounded like._

_Around he spun her, with all the people. She spun past a group of seven, seven girls possibly or more? Their outfits all different colors. Short Skirts, different shades of hair, bows….but blank faces._

_They all rushed by each time, faster and faster until she closed her eyes to find herself spinning out into the starlight, by the arches…a balcony maybe?_

_Where was she?_

Where had the stars led her? Her partner was gone.

_She looked to her left._

_A girl. A girl with blonde hair, long ponytales, in a white gown was holding a golden…a golden…something. A star? No a trinket? And there beside her was the same man who had just spun her into this scene. Faceless. Everyone._

_The melody was suddenly as loud as she'd ever heard it._

_"And this…this is something to remember us by. For ever and for always. In case something happens. Until we meet again. I couldn't bare it-"_

_"Nothing will happen. I will make sure of it." He looked at the trinket._

_"For now this moment is ours."_

_She listened. The girl's voice. It sounded like the voice she'd made when she was humming. She shook her head, and saw a glimpse of her own hair. Blonde. In two pigtails…she took her hands to her head. Odangos. Was she? Was she this girl? She closed her eyes and saw a ghostly face for a moment. Slated red eyes and a jagged mouth. She opened them to the scene again. She turned to look away._

_She was seeing two lovers and yet she didn't feel like she was spying…it all seemed so familiar..._

_She closed her eyes again. But she couldn't be that girl… She was standing here…next to them…_

_She was alone…_

_Her partner must have someone like her instead._

_She felt two arms around her._

_She looked up to see the Tuxedoed man embracing her._

_"Our moment is forever my Serenity, no matter what."_

_She blinked._

_She was that girl. _

_She was in that gown.  
_

_The stars seemed so close._

_Serenity._

_Serenity._

_Serenity._

_The Melody was close. Beside her in his hand, around her grasped tight. She looked. She knew him. His face-_

_Blue eyes. Warm._

_Stoic. Strong. Reassuring._

_Like a Prince. Her Prince._

_She felt his lips on hers. She closed her eyes._

_ Prince. Masked. __Darien._

___She replayed this vision in her mind. Flashes. _

_Those girls, in the color._

_The faces. Her friends. Rei. Mars. Leta. Jupiter. Ami. Mercury. Mina. Venus. Michelle. Neptune. Amara. Uranus. The others…Luna….Artemis…Saturn...Pluto..._

_She was on the Moon. She was Serenity. Moon Princess. Serena. Sailor Moon._

_This was her past..._

Falling, falling into her mind, into place...

_Faces, she knew, faces she knows, returning- to the hum of a twinkling melody-_

...

Darien held her after he'd kissed her. The girls stayed quiet in anticipation. The glow of the Locket on the couple's faces.

"Look! Her Crest!" Luna exclaimed.

Keeping her in his arms, he looked between Serena's blank eyes: The Moon Symbol.

It glowed bright, and suddenly the blinding white light, seemed to be fighting against a dark glow from her chest.

Darien grasped the Locket. The melody of the Locket was still humming loudly in the background. "Come on Serena." He urged.

The seed slowly glowed against her body, as her head pulled back and her Moon symbol glowed brighter. It rose out from her chest slowly.

"Be ready. If this works, we need to catch that seed." Artemis said quietly.

Suddenly a bright flash filled the room. And the Seed escaped her chest, and Lita caught it in a vase, spilling the red roses onto the ground in Darien's bedroom.

"Good catch." Mina said impressed.

"You can't be a good fighter if you're not quick on your feet. Hm." Lita said recovering, looking rather irked at the catch.

"I hate to say it but a vase isn't going to hold it well." Amara said.

"Shh. Serena's waking up I think." Michelle shushed her.

"Serena!" Darien said.

Her eyes slowly faded back to normal. She blinked.

"Darien?" She said absently. "That song…"

She looked to see the Star Locket.

"It always brings us back together doesn't it?" Darien said giving it back to her, holding her hand tight.

"Mhm. I remembered, the past…the Locket, that night….the night I gave it to you…" She looked up to him, and saw the same blue eyes she saw staring down at her that night on the Moon.

"You really scared us Serena…you couldn't remember any of us. You were some amnesic zombie on a bed… you really need to improve your memory you know." Rei scolded.

"I'm sorry. But it was all of you that brought me back." She said meekly.

"Oh Serena, you'll never change." Luna said.

"What's are you doing with that?" Serena looked to Lita who had the Seed trapped like a cockroach under a cup.

"We need a jar. Can someone get one from the kitchen?" Lita said.

"Second cupboard on the right." Darien said.

"We caught your seedling Serena. I just don't know how easy it will be to study." Ami explained.

"But our first action should be paying those two Sailor-Pains a visit." Rei said.

"I don't even want to call them scouts." Lita said carefully exchanging the Seed from the vase to the jar with Amara's help. "They don't deserve it."

"Now that you're back Serena, we can. I'm sure that girl they took hold of would be happy to get back to finishing her classes too." Michelle added.

"I'm game to see what their up to. Plus we out number them." Amara added.

"We all need to make sure we don't get hit though." Ami said. "Forgetfulness isn't uncommon. It's probably an easy one to spread. It will be interesting to see what kind of energy these feed off of…"

"I don't want to have to deal with this again. Nobody should." Darien looked from the Serena to the scouts.

"That's right. All the people that got turned are dealing with the same thing Serena is." Rei nodded.

"Which also means it shouldn't be hard to find them if the town is going Ghost again." Lita crossed her arms.

"Are you going to be okay Serena?" Michelle asked.

"I should be now." She sat up. "I guess I just need to work on my memory a little more…"

"Might make up for all those missed scout meetings when you "forgot" to come and went to the arcade…" Rei dug.

"Don't be so righteous!" Serena pouted.

"I think it's about time you scouts got going. Just make sure that you guys are on your game this time and don't get hit by those crystals." Artemis said.

"We'll start to investigate this star seed but it might only last until you guys defeat them." Luna paced around the jar.

"Here, keep my computer Luna. Use it to scan and research it." Ami took out her hand-held.

"Thank you Ami, now go scouts before it's too late." Artemis said.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 7: ****Unravels**

"Good this time it spread well." Sedna nodded to Varune at his work.

"I'm surprised the Guardian Scouts haven't come out to play though?" Varune acknowledged.

"Do you think-" Sedna bit her lip, watching Lethe move about the town. "Those girls earlier…I'm quite sure they were the same girls that tried to call me out yesterday."

"So you _did_ catch on."

Sedna and Varune turned to see Ixion behind them, standing on the roof as well. His vest was similar to Varune's but a burnt orange red with square shoulder guards. His cuffs, while similar to Varune's, were pointed at the elbow in the same burnt orange. His black pants didn't slouch like Varune's either, but instead fell inside two boots. His red brown hair waved down from his forehead, dusted over his boyish golden-rust eyes to his smirking mouth and his arms crossed, showing off his muscle and his gold-brown fingerless gloves.

"What do you mean _catch on_?" Varune looked darkly at him. Varune never really liked Ixion's ways. Ixion had tried to woo Sedna long before he'd made a pact with her to rule the reign of the dark waters together.

"I've been watching. I find it so pathetic that the people of this planet are so weak…but I also wanted to know what works too." Ixion shrugged, his smirk biding across his face in charm.

"Is that spite I hear for the people of this planet or the one whose supposed to rules?" Sedna looked challenging at him. She also knew his methoods well. Ixion had gotten himself into deep waters in the past, and always tried to undo it with his own heated ways.

Ixion ignored it. "I noticed the same thing. I'm quite positive you may have knocked them out too soon... But I'm waiting to see how it goes. Our _Queen_ of the scorned planets such as ourselves already gave me my two kakoi for when your turn has past."

"What makes you so confident in all of this?" Varune asked.

Ixion turned to leave, his eyebrows lifted and shoulders shrugged. "I could never forget that face; the face of purity that my fire has not yet singed. "

"What a Romeo. That will be his downfall you know?" Sedna said shaking her head.

"It was then. But if he is right, then we may have already succeeded." Varune said.

"Of course, then we don't have to worry about-" Sedna's eyes caught their demon girl. "What could Lethe be doing chasing after a studious student again? Her targets are dwindling-" Sedna rolled her eyes, leaning against Varune, her pale blue curls falling onto his shoulder.

"She only remembers one thing. Relax." Varune said, putting his chin on her head. "We'll go make sure it turns out."

"Remember to forget!" Lethe called out at the bespectacled young boy.

"Let me go, you enormous monstrosity!" The boy was cornered in an empty parking lot.

"Let the kid go!"

"Huh?" Lethe turned to see seven Sailor Scouts and one Tuxedo Mask.

"How dare you try to force this hard working student to forget who he is and all he's studied for!" Mercury called out.

"We don't all have the best memory, and I'm not about to forsake those who have a good or bad one! Nobody is perfect and you are a perfect pain that we're not going to let do this any longer!" Uranus called out.

"On behalf of the Sailor Scout's we will punish you!"

"And I thought we might have actually gotten rid of you." Sedna appeared above the scene as the boy crept away and almost fled before she held out a hand and some black watery tentacles kept him in place. Her eyes shifted to Varune; they both were wondering if Ixion had been right at all.

"Hah, takes more than a little seed or two to get us!" Sailor Moon called out, as the others sighed.

"I can't imagine you all have a perfect memory…you seemed to have all forgotten the dark past you came from." Varune looked lamely at them.

"Why don't you just spit out what's bugging you!" Jupiter challenged.

"Nah, we like the Suspense. It's nice to have a one up from your planetary tirents for a change." Sedna laughed. "It's also nice to see that Neptune has finally shown up. It will be a good day to see the deepest parts of the waters overcome the skimming foams overshadowing above us for so long."

"Lethe will help us do those honors for now." Varune motioned to Lethe.

"Lethe only knows one thing: Spread the Seeds!" The purple skinned monster with a braid sticking out behind her as if held by gel, released seeds from her mark.

They all scattered missing them.

"Deep Submerge!"

Neptune's Wave flushed the enemy against a nearby brick wall.

"We need something better before she strings us up again." Tuxedo Mask pointed out.

"She said she could only remember one thing. What if that thing is the string?" Uranus motioned at the ribbon.

"I did that as a kid when I was younger." Venus nodded. "It fits."

Mercury used her glasses. "While her energy source is from the Seed, it seems like her power is emitted from that ribbon."

"So how do we get rid of it so I can heal her?" Sailor Moon asked warily. She didn't want to get seeded again.

"Which one of our powers can get rid of a ribbon? Well I never thought I'd see the day that'd would be our dilemma." Jupiter mentioned.

"I got this." Mars nodded. "String can't handle my fire."

"In that case, we'll distract her in various directions." Tuxedo Mask suggested.

"Too much work how about this." Jupiter shook her head. "Sparkling Wide Pressure!"

Lethe was electrocuted by the blast of energy. "Ahgghgh!"

"Not fair! I my turn to strike! Wait…" Lethe went to stand up and held up her finger.

"Wrong move sister!" Mars shouted. "Mars Flame Sniper!"

Mars' flame shot right at her finger, and singed the ribbon.

"What!? WHAT? NO! But I was supposed to remember one thing- I can only remember one thing- but now I'm forgetting- oh what was it- Master Varune?!" Lethe looked for Varune but the two had already left. She knocked at her head as if trying to get information out the same way one gets water out of their ear.

"Now Sailor Moon!" Neptune called out.

"Right! Starlight Honeymoon Therapy Kiss!"

"NOO!"

They watched as the Seed escaped Mimzy's body as she collapsed. It flew high into the air and suddenly sunk back into the sky as if it had escaped, teleporting back to their lair.

Mimzy woke up slowly. "Ooh my head. What's happening? Why aren't I at school!" She sat up from a bench.

"Here!" Lita put the agenda in front of her. "We came to give this to you after school but you walked off."

"Yea you seemed a little absent. I hope school went fine?" Mina asked.

"Why am I on the bench?"

"You fell ! I think you may have been looking for your agenda actually and you bumped into that bench. You should watch where your going more often!" Rei smiled.

"Oh…I'm such a klutz sometimes." Mimzy blushed. "Thank you!"

"If you ever need help on anything you should get a tutor for school! I'd help but I have a lot of studying myself for University." Ami recommended.

"Thanks! I might do that! Bye!"

"See I told you. It's Serena's long lost intellectual twin." Rei dug giving a smug look.

"Oh no, I'm not that bad…am I?" Serena looked to the others and then to Darien.

"Well…I mean we know now it could be worse?" Darien laughed nervously.

Serena sighed. "Alright. I'll try harder I swear. No more seed stuff."

"Speaking of Seed stuff, we need to check if Luna and Artemis got any info on that seed before it disappeared." Lita motioned.

"Right. Lets go." Mina nodded.

* * *

"They really are a pain…but Lethe spread farther than before." Sedna admitted, leaning against the walls of the dark room. "Darling, I really will be a happy woman when we finally get to see their faces when we over take them."

"At least they are learning the extent of our wrath…especially if one of them was hit with the seed…" Varune speculated.

"But you_ did_ undermine the fantastic power of fire didn't you?" Ixion appeared smirking.

"So you favor the Mars one now do you?" Varune raised a brow.

"No, for one, my powers are much better than hers. I'd rather prefer a dove to a raven."

"So she's given you the next Seeds to spread…" Sedna looked at him.

"I really do think she gave me the best ones too…" He looked at the Seed he had.

"_Best ones?"_ Sedna looked skeptical.

"…for my plan." Ixion smirked.

"I can't believe she's feeding your fire by giving you-" Varune started.

"Ah, ah, it's a new era my dear Varune. Who's to say I can't prevail this time? I have just the plan for my dear Kakoi of Quarrels."

* * *

_**On my Deviant Art account purpledancer69 I will be uploading an image of the characters and information on them as they arise in the story! If you want you can check them out!**_


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 8: Clues from the Past**

"So what did you find?" Ami asked the two cats.

"Well we had to scan it and make sure we could keep the digital analysis with your computer Ami, but it seems like this isn't the kind of energy that the Dark Moon used. It is dark energy, but it registers as something much more familiar." Artemis said showing the geometric plan of the seed on the screen.

"So what is it?" Mina asked.

"It's energy that is more like your own. It acts like power similar to your own; that of a Senshi…of course there is no saying, that like Galaxia was, it may have been affected by a negative influence." Luna speculated.

"You can't tell what planet though?" Amara asked.

"No. It's –" Artemis sighed. "Many of the outer planets, including Saturn and Pluto have powers that are driven from a darker source. This doesn't mean evil; but like everything in the world there is a balance."

"Like Yin and Yang?" Rei asked.

"Kind of. There is no creation without destruction. No silence without a scream. Dark and Light somehow also tend to equalize as well. These planets, or at least Sedna and Varune, also are two of the outer planets. There are many of them, and not all of them attended council in the past. Frankly I can't remember all myself, but their powers of water, are the powers that are…not evil, but a different spectrum."

"Powers of Sailor Scouts run in all different shapes. Saturn's powers are dangerous but they also create the ability for new life." Luna expanded.

"Sedna said she was "of the deep", does that mean that her powers are of the deeper descents of water?" Ami speculated.

"Varune's powers might be similar then…maybe that's why they call on us..." Michelle noted.

"It's a possibility." Artemis said. "These Seeds are also …specific in a way."

"What does that mean?" Lita asked.

"What Artemis means is that they resemble the Seed of an Apple, in shape. Or at least the closest match we could find." Luna explained.

"So it's native of the Earth?" Darien spoke up.

"The apple once was native of the Earth. It was actually when Earth finally united with the scoutdom; specifically your generation in the past when the apple found its way to the Moon." Luna sighed.

"You mean, it was me who brought it to the moon?" Darien asked.

"I remember that day vividly. Queen Serenity brought back many memories, sometimes in my dreams. Serena, not long after you met Prince Darien, you had a bit of folly in his gardens. The apple is one of the Earth's sweetest fruits, the Fruit of Eve it was once called."

"That's right. It was called that because the first Queen of the Earth was Eve, and she was the first to discover it. Anyone who once was either on Earth or at the Moon at that time may be linked to this fruit." Artemis added.

"But you said Earth wasn't part of the scoutdom?" Amara added.

"No, the Earth for a long while never was part of it. It was of their own choice too. Earth was a very neutral place to live. For that reason the Earth wasn't one to take Scout-oath to the Silver Crystal as a Guardian. Until Darien met you in the past Serena." Luna looked to Serena.

"Really?" Serena blushed. "But how come you don't tell us these things…"

"All of this stuff never came up before. Honestly we don't remember everything, and we are leaving many parts as blanks we cannot fill in. Either way, Apple's actually seeded on the Moon, surprisingly, for Earth plants don't often flourish other places. So we can't be for sure what that means, nor how it links to the two Soldiers of Sedna and Varuna." Artemis added.

"I'm sorry, but can Sailor Soldiers be male? No offence Darien." Mina asked.

They all looked to her a little stunned.

"Yes. A Sailor Soldier doesn't always mean a uniform, or a feminate thing. Most of the planets have a tendency to follow the originating goddesses' gender; the protectors of the planet's crystals were said to be mainly female who sacrificed their lives to protect the powers each planet for example. Eventually Sailor Soldiers weren't just planetary, but became part of a domain; if there is something to protect, there is likely a soldier for it." Luna explained.

"Darien, and like Varune, I assume, is taken on his own identity. Remember, Darien never truly became a Sailor Soldier in his past, he only gave oath himself to protect Serena and the silver crystal long after the original choosing and oaths were taken at a young age." Artemis reminded.

They nodded.

"So what can we do to stop them?" Lita asked.

"Unfortunately, like a Sailor Scout striking another Scout's power, most of the time all they do is clash. War between Scouts is often redundant because the playing field is equivalent; but also you are meant to protect the given power and it's source. Your planet is protected by your ability to use its power. If this is planetary, the only thing we can do is purify it."

"If Serena's scepter doesn't' work, then frankly, it might have to be the silver crystal as it is. Until we find by who, or how these are being controlled, changing that wont be easy…Any Power turned to Darkness has an instigating reason behind it. You can't put a band aid over it until you fix the problem." Artemis expanded.

"So it got us nowhere…" Rei leaned back.

"No, at least we know what we're dealing with. Or at least closer to an answer." Amara shook her head.

"I think I'm going to see if Pluto, or Trista can join us. Saturn hasn't awakened yet, so I'm leaving her out of it for now." Michelle said.

"Hasn't awakened _yet_?" Mina looked apprehensive.

"I'm hoping this isn't heading that way." Michelle gave a small reassuring smile.

"We can only hope so. Hopefully the next time we'll get closer to some answers." Darien concluded their conversation. He knew he wasn't about to let Serena, or anyone other scout swayed by these Seeds. The Earth was his to protect, and more so, using the Fruit of the Earth to promote sin…he didn't like that either.

* * *

"So, the question is, _what_ do I do with you?" Ixion looked down on the city, his first Seed in his palm. _Neikia._ "What quarrels are the easiest to begin?"

"I hear Sedna and Varune ran into them twice. You should be ready to counter them; it seem's their Plans for direct attacks didn't work so well."

Ixion turned to see Charon. His silver long bangs hung down his left eye, his hair in his ponytail, silvery over his darker tanned skin. His dark green hood was down, over his light silver green vest like Charon and Varune's. His staff, long with a diamond-shaped green illuminate crystal hanging off like the end of a hanging lantern, with three gold coins hanging off of it.

"I'll think of a way. I always do." Ixion scanned the city. Somewhere in the city was his real coveted goal; to find her and this time make her realize he was more than just a small-time soldier.

"And I hate to suggest that your mind might be somewhere else at times." Charon said calmly. He wasn't accusatory like Sedna and Varune; Charon was sometimes overly calm, at least in Ixion's opinion. Ixion didn't get that. How could that man hold no grudge? They're must be one under his calm dark green eyes? Ixion knew his own grudge was best matched in his own satisfaction of winning what he once lost. But, Charon had his own skeletons, and certainly he wasn't the only one with a woman on his mind.

"And yet you are here scanning the city to, and you don't have a Seed to spread. I will tell you if I see her. I know what it is like." Ixion closed his hand on the seed as it disappeared. He'd call it out the moment he found his method. Ixion gave a small look of brief comfort, as if he'd hoped Charon might actually admit their similarity.

"If you don't I don't care. She made her decision then." Charon looked away. "Unlike you, I don't care to win her over. I couldn't once…"

"But you can't tell me you wouldn't like to prove her wrong? Show here what she's missed? Charon you really are stone cold to your own wants." Ixion flashed his devious charming smile.

"I'd like to tell her, straight for once, but I don't chase wheels that are turning in another direction. Even if they do see their own mistakes, they've already head down one path. You can't go back, or in reverse in life can you?" Charon's metaphor was a little one sided too Ixion's own powers, his wheel of hellish fires. Charon's voice was still too calm.

"As you wish. If you were smart you'd try to get her to come to our side. I'm sure she's not to far from it Mr. Moon-mover." Ixion teased his ally.

"I don't do that transportation stuff anymore for anyone. No simple coin, nor trade. Nor goodness of the heart. The moon I rule is my own, I deviated from that life, and the moon's planet that I wasn't enough for. It's your time now anyway Ixion, goodluck."

Ixion swore he heard less calm and a bit of bitter in his voice. But Charon had left and he didn't care to pull teeth to get more out of him.

It was funny how easy lover's love can turn to Quarrels…

Actually Charon had helped given him the answer to his little problems. Ixion pulled out the Seed again and smiled. Now…for the right opportunity.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 9: A Chipped Heart**

Ixion passed by the humans. His black suit and burnt orange dress shirt open as his auburn red locks fell about in the air, dusting his eyes. He smirked knowing his charm still caught the eye of the other sex passing by.

But he knew he had to find a loophole. The two _sea-monsters_ Sedna and Varune didn't really get too far with their Spreading of Discord. He knew the advantage of causing a rift between human would only help him conquer the Guardian Senshi, and hopefully aid him in his own quest. If he couldn't depend on human-hosts to spread it alone, he'd have to get a bit creative. But he was good at that.

The people of the Earth were very commercial. They spent all their days on their purchases. Sure he wasn't one to talk, but whatever "money" they used it seemed to show used also to show people affection. Gifts. Purchases. Clutter.

His shoulder got pushed as a woman passed by him, following a male.

"I can't believe you forgot-"

"I'm sorry I've been-"

"I was left in the rain all night! And the other day you forgot our anniversary… I can't believe you!"

"Darling don't! Something happened-"

"No, I can't do anymore excuses... that's it we're done!" The woman ran away after throwing something at the man.

Ixion turned to see a small charm had hit his foot. A heart. How adorable. He picked it up.

"Can you give that? I'll see if I can return it…"

"It's really too bad. It is a nice charm." Ixion looked at it hard. "Tell me where did you get it?"

"I'll show you. It's a little shop around the corner. Alhtough, looks like I won't be going there for a while."

"Love. It's a complicated thing isn't it." Ixion smiled.

"I'm sure you don't have a problem…"

"Oh I do. But I think I'll be able to fix it sooner than later." Ixion entered the doors behind the boy.

"How can I help you?" A taller young woman with black hair, and large blue eyes asked.

"I'm here to return this."

"Why? I thought you said your girlfriend would love it?" She took the charm delicately in her hands.

"She did. Until she dumped me. I don't even need the money back. Here." He drooped out of the room.

"Oh." She silently stood in the room for a moment.

Ixion shuffled around the room.

"Can I help you sir?"

"I was looking for a charm…something to do with love…or relationships or-" Ixion gave her a dangerously charming stare.

"Oh well…I hope you weren't… I mean I do, they're over here."

Ixion looked at the case. So many for love. Charon really did give him a good play for this Seed. Speaking of seeds…

"This one…what is it?"

"Oh its called 'Apple of my Eye'." Its supposed to look like the inside of an apple…in the shape of a heart. I have ones for couples too…where the two halves fit. They can put them wherever and-"

"What was the one that gentleman brought in?"

"Oh it looks damaged. I really hate that that had to happen…I opened this shop so people didn't have to end up like that…I wanted to bring people closer together …"

"Bitten by the poison apple of love once too?" Ixion raised a brow and put his hand close to hers.

"Oh…oh I shouldn't say."

"Oh it's fine. My name is Aden Ixion. And yours?"

"Adori. I did…and when my mom passed, I made our jewelry store into a charm store…so people could have charms to give them reminders…luck for their relationship. My relationship ended harsh…but I can remember the pain so well…we were going to get married. But enough about me…what about you?"

"I'm still looking. I have my eye on someone…but I'm afraid I'm not the first to try and steal her heart. On the other hand, I like this charm. I think I could use it to my advantage …but you see Adori, I need your help. I need these charms to be a bit more- modified…"

* * *

"Darien! Oh Darien!" Serena entered the apartment and snuck over to the black haired man with his back turned at a desk.

"Surprise!"

"AHH!" Darien's book fell off the desk, and his phone collapsed on the ground.  
"Serena, I was on the phone- can you just let me do this for a minute-"

"But I wanted to Surprise you!" Serena gulped "Well I wanted to see if you wanted to come to the festival tonight! And maybe go boating today, its so nice! Jus the two of us and-"

"Serena, I'd love to but …I'm taking a course tomarrow. Its just a day, but I need to read up on some material. I just got the second spot, and I'm trying to see if another colleague of mine wanted to go. I'm going to be busy today Serena I'm sorry."

"Oh…Well I'm sorry I messed up your call."

"I'll talk to you later, Maybe I'll be able to show up."

"So whose the colleague your bringing? Maybe you could set him up with Leta, you know she's been looking for a boy-"

"No, no Serena, she's a woman. Hana Hachickio. We were in a lot of classes together and I think she'd like it. She was always into the social sciences edge to the aspect of hard politics and I think that she'd appreciate if I brought…or at least invited her. I was about to call her when you came in. Maybe even catch up…I think she's been doing some interesting stuff since we graduated- "

"Well I don't want to interrupt. I'll just be leaving now."

"Oh don't be like that Serena, you know I'd spend time with you if I could afford it. Maybe if-_ *sigh*_ I'll have to let you know later. Don't be mad Serena."

"I'm not. I'll head out now."

"Later Serena." He called out as she left. He turned around to give a tug back to him, but she was already gone. He didn't want to ditch her, but he had to catch up a bit…although…he didn't understand why she got so distant when he mentioned other girls? She couldn't possibly think?

* * *

"What's up Serena? You look glum?" Mina asked.

"Oh its just that Dariens got so much going on now that he wants to make up for his year away I-"

"Don't be so selfish! He's back with you, and when he has the time he'll spend time with you." Rei scolded.

"His studies are going to be important Serena. He's going to regain his spot as Prince of the Earth eventually." Ami nodded.

"But I get it. It sucks to be pushed to the side." Leta agreed with Serena.

"Actually I felt bad. I knocked over his book and phone this morning. I should have been more careful."

"Wow Serena, actually scolding yourself. Makes my job easier." Luna retorted.

"Well then, why don't you get something to apologize? Maybe then he'll be more into spending the night at the festival with us!" Mina smiled pulling Serena off the floor.

"Funny how you guys always end up shopping for therapy. I don't get it." Artemis watched as the girls rush to the door of the temple.

"I, frankly don't get it either." Luna sighed.

"Oh I thought it was a girl thing." Artemis looked to Luna with a sigh, as the girls ran off.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 10: Apple of My Eye**

"You need to get something he'd like. Something that says you're sorry. He'll realize maybe he needs to be more accommodating for you…it's the perfect plan!" Mina said leading the girls.

"What about flowers? He likes flowers right?" Leta asked.

"That's stuff a girl would want. You need something more generic." Rei sad.

"I don't know. The only thing we've ever really exchanged…well I mean that meant something was the star locket. I have his ring…but –"

"What about something like the ring? It was a promise right? That he'd be there for you. So what about something like that?" Ami added.

"When did you get so romantic Ami?" Rei teased. Ami blushed.

"I think that's a great idea." Leta added.

"But you can't really get a guy jewelry though?" Mina said.

"No, but maybe a charm or something. I mean you have that locket right? As long as its not really girly-" Leta was looking down the street.

"What are you thinking Leta?" Serena asked.

"I see what your saying." Mina said to Leta. "She found us a Sale." She grinned and led the girls to a small shop called "A Lover's Charm".

"Come in and look through my beautiful charms! Bring in charm to your romance with broaches, rigns, charms, and jewelry for male and female lovers and witness our most popular line of-" Adori turned to see the girls. "I'm so happy to see a bunch of wide eyed girls coming to my shop."

They looked to the woman, who had wavy black hair and blue eye to them. She wore a red dress, with a little pin on it, with a name tag below. "You girls all looking for a gift for a loved one? You should come in. It's only the best. If your in a quarrel with your lover we've got the perfect gift."

"Not all of us, but I'd sure like to look around." Ami said as they walked in.

"Woah, some of these are expensive." Lita said.

"But they're really cute. I mean even the pins are cute for a shirt…not too gaudy. Or charms for a charm bracelet…" Mina looked in the cases.

"But I mean I don't see how a charm can give out luck…I mean fortunes but-" Rei started.

"Oh so you're the skeptic type. Don't believe in the charm of love?"

They turned as Ixion gave them a suave look from behind a row of display cases.

"No I just believe that charms are meant for good luck and belong at a temple." Rei said.

"Why not love?" Ixion asked. "Young woman as yourselves must know love."

"I just don't see how these ones could bring love." Rei just knew that there wasn't much here. She couldn't feel the presence of good luck or love's aura.

"I think these could very well kindle a flame of love." Ixion's eyes danced, like a golden fire from each one of the girls.

"I think so too." Mina smiled, noticing Ixion's charm.

"I can tell you, that no fire is going to prove these charms…" Rei felt put off by Ixion's stare and shushed herself.

Ixion's eyes landed on Serena. Her blue eyes and her blonde hair… Something about that face. "So which one of you girls is looking for a charm for a loved one?"

"Well…" Lita scratched her head.

"Uhm-" Mina sunk.

"Not really-" Ami's eyes dropped.

"…" Rei didn't finish her previous sentence and bit her lip.

"Well me…but I must say most of the stuff is a little above my wallet weight." Serena said nervously in a laugh.

"Well we do have a promotion." Ixion walked over to her. "Tell me, what does he like?"

"Well…he's smart…and kind of a heroic person….and he likes roses…but I need to get him something to say I'm sorry-"

Ixion looked down at the girl. Was she just attractive to him or was it that she was familiar? He'd served many couples today along side his wonderful Adori. If his goals were to break apart the scouts, and of course his Princess and her Lover by spreading these charms around he could only get closer to his goal. He looked at the group. There was five of them…

"What could you have done wrong? Shouldn't the Prince be buying for the Princess?" Ixion raised a brow.

"Oh, no. I just…I got a bit jealous and stuff and-"

"Say no more." Ixion said. "The collection "Apple of My Eye" is on sale and you can surely get him something in that set. Supposed to promote the idea that they are your one and only as the saying goes. Most people I'd recommend matching ones, but it seems you might only have enough for his."

"That should work Serena, since he gave you the promise ring before." Mina piped in.

"A ring?" Ixion asked.

"Just a token to show me how much I meant to him." Serena hadn't stopped wearing it.

"Well in that case, you can get him a pin…he could wear it on his shirt, like you wear your ring. " He handed her the pin.

It was a golden apple, halved, that almost looked like a heart shape, with a little seed-jewel in the middle of a red-purple color. It wasn't gaudy like Mina had mentioned, and at least he could wear it. Didn't the Apple represent Earth as it's fruit? I mean the first Queen of Earth or something ate one? Wasn't that what Luna had said?

"I'll take it." Serena took out her wallet.

"I'll give you a discount too, since I really hate to see anyone as pretty as yourself in a lover's quarrel. I hope you two stop your quarrelling for the better… " He gave her the charm.

Serena blushed a little. "Thank you-"

"- Aden. And you?"

"Serena. Thanks! I hope Darien likes it." She left with the others.

"You've been giving them to couples, why just the girl's lover?" Adori asked after they left.

"She doesn't need it. The lover will be enough. I like that one anyway. " Ixion shrugged.

"But the single ones…if the charms don't work-"

"That's where you come in Neikia. That's when, and soon, everyone will know this discord. And if luck is on our side, I will find the loop hole I need."


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 11: The Rotten Side of the Apple**

"Funny, I never thought as an apple as a symbol of love." Lita said walking with Serena away from the shop.

"I'm surprised…you know the charm is an _apple_ and -." Rei added.

"Oh Rei stop it. It's a charm. It's for a love. Nothing based in Love could ever be evil." Mina scolded. "Plus, as the Scout of Love, I am coming with you to support this plan." Mina smiled widely at Serena.

"Fine. I still don't like it." Rei complained.

"Or is it because you clashed hard with that hot shop owner?" Lita smiled.

"I just got a weird feeling about him. I can't believe he questioned me? I mean I know my psychic thing is pretty fool proof, and I got the fire to show it. Plus charms don't really work that way. Nothing about these charms gives off pro-lovey vibes."

"I hope it turns out well Serena." Ami nodded to Serena.

"Me too." Serena looked at it. Maybe she was trying too hard…but she didn't want to get in the way of Darien's academics…or jobs…but was it that selfish that she wanted a bit more time in there too?

"Hey, Serena isn't that Darien there?" Lita asked. They spotted him waiting outside a tall brick building.

"We'll let you give him the charm, and wait over here." Rei sat down on a bench underneath the afternoon summer sky.

"I'm hanging close by. I want to see if these Magical little charms work, otherwise you wont be the only one emptying your piggy bank." Mina smiled and trailed enough behind so she could watch. "Scout of Love's gotta keep cupid's arrow on track."

Serena walked over, not sure what he was doing outside in front of a row of business buildings. "Darien?"

"Oh Serena, I wanted to try to talk to you again but you were already out. I got a little dishevelled this morning. Sorry ." Darien said apologizing for his lack of …well apology for this morning. "Actually I couldn't get ahold of you because when you came in this morning, you dropped your cell in my apartment."

Serena took it back. She hadn't even noticed. "Thanks! What are you doing here?"

"I'm just waiting on someone. Shopping again?"

"Yes. Actually…here." Serena handed him the small box with the charm-pin in it.

"What's this?"

"It's for this morning. Or for…kind of what you did with the ring..." She didn't know how to say it. She wasn't shy or anything, but giving Darien a gift like this…it was supposed to be special.

"Oh. Well you know you didn't have to-"

"Well I used most of my allowance up so I hope you like it." Serena said guiltily.

Darien looked at it. A half an apple, more like the shape of a heart. It reminded him of a tiepin. It had a little oval gem in the middle too. "It's nice Serena, but why? The ring was a promise that'd I'd be with you even when I couldn't be around."

"Well I really didn't want you to think that I barged in, I mean sure I really do want to go to the festival tonight with you but I still got in the way of the phone call-and I too want you, to you know, know that I'm around and -" Serena sighed and looked up to him with hopeful eyes.

Darien put the pin on his jacket. Upon doing this he felt a strange rush in his body. In a wave that he couldn't control of a feeling of annoyance pulsed through him; an inclination that took over his body.

"You just shouldn't barge in all the time. It's still my apartment." Darien said irritably.

"Well I-" Serena started.

Mina walked over noticing that Serena looked way off put.

"Hey! I hope you weren't waiting too long!" Suddenly a forth person entered the group. Serena saw a girl with reddish brown hair in a short bob, wearing a pale blue button up shirt and a black skirt. She had large green eyes on a petite face and frame.

"Woah, she looks professional." Mina said.

"You must be Serena, Darien's girlfriend?" The woman said to Serena with a smile. "Although I could be wrong. You both almost fit the description. My name is Hana Hachickio."

"Darien told me you were going to the course with him tomorrow?" Serena asked curiously why Darien was already with her.

"Well it just so happened that I wasn't busy today and recommended to him we should grab some coffee. I hope you don't mind! My fathers a lawyer so I figured we could go over some of his case files as warm up for tomorrow and catch up. I really think social work problems often turn to legal cases when they go down hill. It works well from both sides; a humane and a political standing." Hana smiled warmly. "But if you want to steal him back that's fine too. We could always catch up tomorrow before the course."

"No, no it's fine..." Serena said. She knew that was the polite thing to say, but Hana was pretty. Refined. Older. "Also I'm sorry for this morning…"

"Oh that was you that caused Darien to drop the phone?" Hana laughed. "It did make the conversation more exciting."

"She's really a klutz sometimes. We should go, the case files will probably take a while." Darien said rather nonchalantly, as if the dig wasn't present.

"Well I don't think case files would interest you two, but you guys could come along? I'd love talking to the girl Mister Picky is settling down with." Hana said warmly, trying to pick up from Darien's staleness.

"Mr. Picky?" Mina asked hesitantly, looking to Serena.

"Oh yea, Darien, in high school, back in the day…Even when he modeled, he barely dated any of the girls that chased after him."

"I just didn't care for them. Girlfriends get in the way of things mostly anyway." Darien said bluntly. "And Serena doesn't need to come. It's academic talk anyway; she'll probably just knock the coffee over on the files. Let's go Hana." Darien turned away.

"Oh, well, it was nice meeting you Serena." Hana said kind of off-put as she walked away hesitantly behind him.

"What was that? Did he even say thank you? And I haven't heard him talk like that since way back when you guys weren't together…and even then it wasn't that harsh." Mina said.

"Maybe…maybe he was just in a rush." Serena bit her lip.

"Hey how'd it go?" Rei asked as the girls walked over.

"And who was that girl with him?" Leta asked.

"Just his friend Hana Hachicko. And it went-"

"Don't even sugar coat it Serena. I've never seen Darien act rude before but that was-"

"Darien was rude?" Rei lifted a brow. "Well, that's a flash back. He hasn't been bitter to you way back since when-".

"Ahem- Hachicko is also a name of a well known Lawyer in Tokyo. She must be his daughter." Ami added, stopping Rei from mentioning the other times Darien ignored Serena. "If she's Darien's friend it's likely she'll be helpful in his academic endeavors…"

"He didn't like the pin?" Leta asked.

"I- I think. I don't know. You know maybe I am coming on too strong. I just guess maybe I missed him too much. I think I'm going to go have a nap...or something…it has kind of been a long day." Serena looked to her fingers. Something wasn't right…had she really been that annoying this morning? She didn't even have any money left for the festival…or even an ice cream to cheer her up.

"Don't forget about the Festival later tonight! We'll just go together as a group…. Serena?" Mina tried to lighten her spirits but the odangoed girl had already walked away.

"So what exactly did he say?" Leta crossed her arms.

"Honestly, just made her sound dumb and klutzy right in front of Hana." Mina looked worried. "He also didn't sound like he was interested in spending any time with her. It was way weird."

"That doesn't sound like Darien." Rei shook her head.

"It does kind of sound like you though." Leta smirked.

"Hey, I only do it because she needs it….but not from him. Darien's supposed to be Serena's prince. " Rei raised her nose in the air before lowering it modestly.

"This was way harsh. No thank you for the gift. No intimacy. It was like he was ready to put Serena off too for that Hana girl. Not the normal." Mina was concerned.

"Do you think it had anything to do with the gift?" Ami asked.

"Why?" Mina looked to Ami.

Ami pointed at a couple. They were arguing along the way, and quarreling back and forward. Both of their comments seemed very harsh and snide from what the girls could make out.

"So its another couple fighting?" Leta asked, cringing though as the comments were a little blunt.

"They both actually have those charms on. Look." Ami noticed a glistening heart-half-golden apple on the man's shirt and a charm on the girl's bracelet, catching light of the slowly receding Sun.

"Could be a coincidence?" Mina asked.

"I don't know. They've got some kinda bad vibe coming off of them. But it could just be the fact that they're arguing." Rei added.

"Maybe we should keep an eye. If we see this more than once it might be a good idea to investigate." Leta nodded.

"I'd hate to think Serena got in the middle of another attack…it doesn't seem likely. How could they control everyone if only couples are targeted..." Ami started.

"Either way, I had those bad vibes first from that store, so lets make our way back over before it closes. If we see enough proof I have no problem with setting those charms on fire." Rei said leading the way off back down the main street.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 12: The Serpent's Apple **

"Serena what's gotten into you?" Luna asked.

"It's nothing Luna. I'm probably just taking this all to heart too much..." Serena sat in her bath trying to calm her mind.

"What to heart?"

"Darien…he went out for coffee with this woman today. I gave him an apology gift for this morning and he just ignored me…and called me klutzy- like I don't already know am- and he basically called me stupid and- I've been better lately haven't I? I mean I didn't think I really bugged him that much..." Serena looked at her reflection in the water.

"That's not the Darien I know Serena. If he was rude I'm sure he'll apologize. Darien did go through a lot too… he's also probably pressured to become a good future King." Luna thought it sounded strange, but she decided to keep her mouth shut. "And speaking of which, that women wasn't just "a woman'" was she?"

"No, a friend and colleague." Serena said sheepishly.

"See. He's not ignoring you, he's probably just...has his academics on his mind... Try to talk to him again tomorrow." Luna looked at Serena who was playing with the foam in the water absently. "Then why don't you get ready to go out with your friends? The festival should be fun. Serena you and Darien know your future ends well…I'm sure it will work out."

"Okay, I will. But I'm still staying in the bath for another hour… I need to relax for a while." She leaned back. Maybe Luna was right…but still she hated the feeling of another person mad at her…especially Darien.

"Don't stay in too long Serena you'll get water logged and turn into a raisin!"

"Shh, Luna." She sunk down into the water and splashed over by her cat.

Luna pounced away from the water and rolled her eyes leaving the bathroom.

* * *

"_Who cares, you still never called last night…"_

_"I was at a meeting! And its not like you're a perfect girlfriend either! I don't have time for this."_

The girls watched as another couple leaving in a heated quarrel in opposite directions from each other, in the evening sky.

"Did they have the charms on too?" Leta sighed.

"I'm afraid so." Ami used her computer to pin point the charms on the couple.

"So we do have a connection…" Mina said aloud.

"Or we think we do. I bet we should pay the place a visit before it closes. Need to get this wrapped up before the festival tonight." Rei said.

"Shouldn't we bring Serena? I think she needs her answers too." Ami added.

"I'll send her a text. Lets leave her be as long as possible. If we get in more trouble we can always use our communicators later." Mina said.

"I agree. If this is some strange love coincidence for being the most love-tragic day in Tokyo, then we shouldn't need her and let her figure it out with Darien." Leta nodded.

* * *

"I don't understand why you made a special adjustment for that one girl. She would not be affected you know." Adori retorted, her eyes burning. "Arguments need two arguers."

"Do not quarrel with me Neikia. Save that for when you really need to spread the pain of lost affections. I like to leave myself some room for some fun. What better way to recruit humans than to snag them in myself? Can a man not enjoy the luxuries of playing with a few hearts?"

"And cause her the pain after?"

"You wouldn't understand. If we are lucky, I'd say maybe those Guardian Senshi are too busy in their own quarrels. I can only hope that your use has come to good use for me… " Ixion's eyes moved to Adori. "Make sure the door is closed. I want to have a stand prepared for this "festival" thing those people were speaking of. Whatever we don't sell tonight, we will make up for when you strike. Any human relationship is breakable…especially when they're so easy to influence with all the chaos and discord of the Universe." Ixion turned to leave to the back room. "Close the shop and get ready for this evening."

Adori nodded. She turned the "Open" sign on the shop door to "Closed" and went over to the cash register.

The scouts found themselves outside of the shop not long after.

"So, it's closed." Leta said disappointed.

"That means nothing. We have to figure out if there is a connection." Mina said. Rei nodded in agreement.

"We might not need to break in." Ami stopped them short. "I might be able to see the display case through the window. If the same energy is in the store that came from the seedling then we might have a match."

"Makes sense." Leta nodded.

"Well scan it quick! If this is the cause, we need to get rid of it before all the couples break up." Rei said. "Because If there are seeds nearby then so is one of those monsters."

Ami scanned the shop. "There are strong waves of energy from the display case at the back."

"The same one that Serena got that pin from?" Mina asked.

"Yea, but more concentrated. Each charm seems to almost hold one of the seeds." Ami said.

"So they've got a new way of spreading them. Not just by monster…" Rei said.

"Except that's not it. Somebody is in there, and sending a lot of bad energy off of them." Ami put her mini-computer back just as the door opened to the shop.

"You girls want to come in? I'd never turn down a few good customers." Adori said opening the door with a smile.

The girls stood there in awkward silence.

"Actually, I'd like to ask a few questions about the charms. I'm still not really convinced they work the way they should." Rei took the chance to go inside. She winked at the others to follow her in.

"Well it's-" Adori started just as they entered the room.

"I'd hate to think that you girls came all the way back just to question our product." Ixion entered the room.

"Well lets just say your product is a little suspicious." Leta accused.

"Well how come that attractive girl with you before bought one if they're so suspicious?" Adori looked peeved.

"That's why were here. You're charms are actually causing fights by the couples who are wearing them." Ami added rather bluntly.

"Yea, and you messed up our friend's night. Nobody has the right to mess up love!" Mina proclaimed.

"Your friend is having love problems now eh? Ah, and you all must really be quite the perfect girls, considering the fact that you believe fighting and quarrels are so uncommon in this world…relationships are always shaky. You humans are far from perfect." Ixion challenged.

"Humans?" Leta added. "Alright mister what's your game?"

"No games. Just action." Ixion smiled deviously. "Neikia, I want you to show these girls you don't need a lover to quarrel. Surely you know how delicate relationships are Neikia?"

"As delicate as flowers. Until they bloom into the perfect fruit of love, and the snake is revealed beneath that flower!" Adori suddenly transformed into a monster with the tail of a snake and two golden snake-like armlets that ran to her shoulder, with their faces along her wrists. "I am Neikia, the quarreling demon, no relationship can with stand the poison of vindictiveness that underlies all affection."

"Good. Now get rid of these humans… I'm sure they'll find they have a bit of venom in their own words once they are seeded-" Ixion turned to leave when Rei called him out.

"Oh I wouldn't leave just yet, you can't get rid of us that easily. You want a real charm?" Rei took out a paper charm. "I call upon the power of Mars, smite this evil man and keep him in his tracks so he can be punished." She threw it at Ixion.

He smiled and held out his hand as a wheel-shape flame rolled at the paper charm and engulfed it mid-air before it could reach him.

"Sailor Mars I'm guessing? Nice to finally meet you face to face…unfortunately, for once you'll be fighting fire with fire." Ixion smiled. "I'm Ixion of the Flames of Temptations, and I'm quite sure you'll find I'm a little more fun to fight against than my counterparts, the two sea-Sailors you had previously encountered." He transformed, his red- brown wavy hair fell upon two dangerously golden eyes, with his thin, muscular arms slightly tanned against his orange-red vest. "I also deduce I may have encountered not one, but four of the legendary Sailor Guardians?"

"That's right buddy. You're in for it." Leta said before they all transformed.

"Well this should be fun." Ixion said. "However I think this also means your missing another four Guardian Scouts… you'd better hope your friends are coming because I'm afraid you girls might not be friends for long."


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 13: One Bad Apple Will Spoil The Whole Bunch**

"Actually," Ixion said crossing his arms. "I really do hope that your friends do show up on the other hand. There are only a select few of you that really interest us."

"What does that mean?" Sailor Venus asked.

"Oh you'll find out soon enough I'm sure." Ixion smiled coyly before turning to the transformed Adori. "Neikia I don't have all day."

"Well lets see how one bad apple can spoil a whole bunch!" Neikia held out her right hand, and the jaw of the snake opened on her wrist shooting out apples at the scouts.

"Ah! What the heck! We're being ambushed by fruit!" Jupiter said as she dodged one of them.

"I don't think their actually fruit. They seem a little hard-" Mercury said almost falling forward into Mars.

"Because they're bad apples! The venomous of hate always comes out LAST!" Neikia sang almost hysterically in anticipation as Neikia stopped suddenly shooting them. The girls took a breather.

"That was it?" Mars asked.

"Where's that venom stuff?" Venus asked.

"I think you spoke too soon." Jupiter said as she watched one of the apples on the ground roll around a little before it popped open and a cloud of green gas filled the air. Suddenly all of the apples did the same.

"I cant breathe!" Venus complained.

"I can't see much either!" Mars said.

"She must be doing this to distract us. " Mercury said trying to scan the room, as her arm covered her mouth.

"That was a rotten trick." Jupiter said who walked backwards absently bumping into Venus' back.

"AH!" Venus cried as simultaneously they found themselves with a snake-like gold coil wrapped around the both of their arms and waists pinning them to the wall.

"What was that?" Mars looked over to see where the yell came from through the green fog and she felt her waist tighten as she bumped into Mercury and further into the wall.

"Nice catch. Now for the main course." Neikia yelled out.

"Where did that guy Ixion go?" Mars asked searching the room.

"I don't think that's our issue." Mercury said as the serpent-like monster Neikia had been pulling at their ropes and with her other arm revealed a Seed-Face mark on her shoulder. Now that the fog was clearing they managed to see Jupiter and Venus get struck with seedlings,.

"Hey would you move over? How are we going to get free if I can't even breathe?!" Venus asked angrily.

"Oh yea like I put us here!" Jupiter nudged Venus, and pulled around in the grasp.

"Well you just pulled my hair!" Venus said trying to pull her locks out from between them.

"It's not my problem your hair is so long…If it was practically put up like mine we wouldn't have this problem!"

* * *

Serena got out of her bath. The sun was setting and the festival started just into the night time hours.

"Serena! Have you seen your phone!?" Luna said nudging at the cell phone on her bed.

"No, I was in the bath Luna and-"

"The scouts thought that Jewelry shop may have been linked to the Seed-Scouts you girls have been going against! Why didn't you tell me earlier?" Luna exclaimed reading the text.

"What? The Charm shop!" Serena nearly dropped her towel.

"They haven't said anything else. Can you reach them on your communicator?"

"Wait wait!" Serena stumbled into her clothes. She checked her watch-communicator. "I can't get to them!"

"Then theres no time to loose! We need to get to that shop!" Luna said.

"But Luna-" Serena started to question if Darien had texted her or if he was back.

"No time Serena!" Luna lead Serena down to the shop.

"Don't go in right away." Luna said. She peaked over into the glass. Instantly she saw the scouts, all of them arguing and pulling against the monster who had them trapped. "They're hopeless like that. I don't see Sedna or Varune…we should see if there's a back entrance Serena."

"Alright." Serena nodded. They ran down the side alley to find a door at the back of the shop. She transformed almost immediately.

"I'll let you handle this for the time being, I'm going to find Artemis. I think I'll get more help." Luna said.

"Mhm." Sailor Moon nodded and opened the back door as Luna left.

Ixion stood on the roof and smiled as he watched the feline counter-part leave. He'd actually found the right girl. His intuition was riveting at times.

Sailor Moon opened the door.

It was a stock room. Looked like the place they made the charms. It was pretty dark too…but she had to find her way out and get to her friends.

"I wouldn't go through the door if I were you."

She swallowed. "Who's there!?"

She turned to see a man flat in front of her. He looked vaguely similar to the man at the shop this morning. His red brown wavy locks hit his chin, dancing over his golden eyes, as his orange-red vest, something like Varune's ended in a pair of black pants and sharp rimmed arm braces. His forehead had a sign similar to an I with a slash in the middle and his hands were covered in tan fingerless gloves at the end of muscular arms.

"Who are you?" Sailor Moon took two steps back.

"Ixion, master in the Flames of Temptations. Lets say I give your friend Sailor Mars a little run for her fiery-go. Also, I must apologize for giving you that charm this morning."

"I don't know what your talking about…"Sailor Moon put her arms out ready to attack.

"It was me. You know. I know you're the same girl that came in with your four friends who are now fighting Neikia…or rather fighting with each other. All you have to do is light a fire and someone will find the stuff to ignite it into pure chaos. " Ixion smiled at her.

"In that case I need to get in there."

"You could…but you should realize your Prince Charming won't come for you today if you do fail. I watched Sedna and Varune the last few times. But you see you pinned him with a seedling, and I'm sure you already know how that goes-"

Sailor Moon's eyes opened wide. Dairen.

"But that's it. You know these seedlings don't work well on people that don't have something to fight about…it needs the ignition for an argument to arise…you think he really truly loves you if he's throwing you away so easily? Picking at the faults you have?"

"I gave him a reason to this morning. I wouldn't blame him for it. He does love me." Sailor Moon looked hard at Ixion.

"I had the feeling you were that type." Ixion smiled. "Just checking. But we'll see won't we, Princess Serentiy."

"How do you know so much?" Sailor Moon tried to move closer to the door.

"Just a hint. We were all there in the past. You might not remember, but most of us were kept separate…or we weren't known enough to be seen. But you, well everyone saw you. You were the ideal goddess of the Moon. Frankly you should realize that many others had their eye on you, and many others do, and many others will." Ixion stepped towards Sailor Moon. "When your Prince doesn't show up in that Tuxedo of his, someone else might just have to jump in. Sailor Moon, I think if you were more aware of all that was going on, you'd be more interested to see our side of things. You're already in the grasp of one of our kind, and I don't see a soul intervening." He was inches from her, his arm against the back wall beside her head. His golden eyes looked at her deviously and mysteriously. An enemy was so close to her and he didn't even strike? There seemed to be much she didn't know about these rogue planetary Sailors. More so… was he right about Darien?

"Well I'm just going to-" Sailor Moon then ducked under his gaze, and arm and opened the door to see her friends.

Ixion let her go and smiled.

"Hey you slithering Seed demon! If you think you can cause friction between my friends and my boyfriend well your way out of your mind!"

"Ahhhh another to catch!" Neikia smiled.

"WOW it took you long enough Serena!" Mars chimed out loudly pulling aginst her confines, nearly knocking Mercury to the ground.

Sailor Moon sighed. "I'm trying Rei. Now to deal with you." She turned back to Neikia.

"Don't waste the seedling Neikia. It won't work on her. I'd just make sure she doesn't get in your way." Ixion came out from behind and stood on one of the display cases.

"Oh not an arguer? Not one for a good quarrel or fight?" Neikia twisted her tail.

"When did that happen?" Juptier said.

"Yea you should hear Mars over here and her go at it sometime!" Venus yelled.

Sailor Moon sighed. It wasn't her friends speaking it was the seedling…but then what Ixion said before…

"No, she's not. She's more of a Princess like character. Still waiting on her Prince though…" Ixion teased pointing to a clock in the room. Sailor Moon looked hard at Ixion, but he only returned her glare with a smile. His smile was strange…as if he enjoyed the games but also something else…

"Sailor Moon you're not paying attention you meat-ball head!"

Sailor Moon turned to see a dark red apple being thrown her way, as it hit the ground it exploded barely dodging it falling into a display case.

"Still nothing." Ixion chimed.

Sailor Moon pulled herself up when Neikia threw another one. Sailor Moon barely dodged it again bumping into the wall.

"Let's make sure you don't get away and ruin all my glorious quarreling!" Neikia seemed to marvel in the sound of her friends bickering and pinned her to the wall like her friends.

"Enough." Ixion said to Neikia before she could throw an apple at her again.  
Ixion walked over to her pinned against the wall, beaten up from the two bombs. He took her chin in his hand. "I just wanted to make sure that you werne't going to foil my plan so soon…but also-"

She looked up at him with large blue eyes. She saw something in his eyes. She'd remembered seeing that look before…once when she was trapped in the hands of another man.

"- I'd start to think about who really cares for you…amongst all this chaos. Because chaos is coming Sailor Moon, and if your smart, you'll find that you may find it in the most unexpected of places."


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 14: Under-Estimated**

_Meanwhile…_

"I can't believe you Darien!" Hana said sweeping up her father's case files, with wide eyes.

"I-" He hadn't said anything that bad had he? He was just saying the truth.

"The way you're talking right now. Its so … forceful!"

"In politics you have to be forceful."

"Yes, but you're taking a humanities oriented approach. More critically inclined to everyone's benefit. Or at least I thought you were? I mean my father's cases know the sides of the criminal and the victim but theres so much more to why people are the way they are - what made them evil. Your being so -" Hana shook her head. "And more so …"

She got silent. He looked up to meet her eyes.

"The way you talked to your girlfriend earlier…like a child…with no respect. I know you were a little conceited at times but you were always so much nicer in my memories of school together. Serena didn't deserve that. Frankly I don't know what happened but…but I'm leaving. Don't do something your going to regret later, acting like that." Hana shaded her head and walked away leaving Darien to the outdoor table at a café by himself.

Why did he feel so agitated? He couldn't hate Hana. He couldn't get out of his mind the argument he had with with Serena either – something- something was off. He scrunched his palm in his hand into a fist.

He felt a quick flash of it. Suddenly. That flash he got when Serena was in trouble. He had to help…but…but after what she did this morning why should he? She was always in trouble…-no-no…this wasn't him. He pressed his hand into the table. What was this hostile feeling? Serena was in trouble…it would be worse if something happened to her. How would he live with himself? But still that feeling…

"Darien?" He looked under the table to see Luna.

"What?" He said, still with the agitated ring of his mind contemplating his feelings, emerging from his thoughts.

"Serena and the scouts are in danger! I left them to see if Artemis could locate the outer scouts, but frankly I get the feeling that they got too close to this one. It was a local charm shop downtown and those Seeds are going to take over this town if we don't hurry. A new rogue senshi is there and frankly he got the scouts under his control too easily…"

"I- should but …I don't know if I want to-" Darien put his head in his palm, resting his elbows on the table.

"What? This isn't you? What happened? I know Serena said she apologized for something earlier. She-" Luna looked up at Darien and spotted it. A charm. Was that the gift Serena spoke about?

"Is that Serena's gift?"

"Yea, although I don't know why I'm wearing it- honestly I-" Darien looked at the pin. Serena had tried to make it up to him, but if he had been mad at her why did he put it on in the first place?

Luna jumped up onto the table and in one quick pounce tore it from his t-shirt and whipped it onto the road.

"What was that?" Darien said, his head spinning as he watched it fly as Luna pounced onto the table.

"A charm. I believe a charm from that evil shop. Serena may have innocently given you something that contained a seed. I don't think it worked. I think you may have been in the process of giving in to it though." They watched as a car crushed over it and a seed shot out of the charm's shattered remains and into the sky.

Darien felt the twinge of Serena in danger again. "I can't believe I almost fell for it…." He felt too shamed to even see Serena.

"Everyone dwells on the faults they see in their partner, friend or love ones. Nobody is perfect Darien. But you didn't and that means your conscience and love for her had enough power to say no to the Seed's temptation. I'm worried if the scouts got influenced easily… I don't know if Serena would be susceptible…only if she truly questioned that you might save her, she might give in." Luna sighed.

"Then lets go. If she and the scouts are in trouble I need to go now." Darien ran off with Luna instantaneously, leaving the shattered remains of the charm glistening in the evening light.

* * *

"Your guardian scouts can't even get a hold of themselves."

"It's your fault. The scouts I know wouldn't fight with each other like this. Fighting just means difference. All people are different; it doesn't mean they have to-"

"You were always the romantic, sweet and innocent type." Ixion coaxed devilishly. "I missed those blue eyes, always sitting pretty like a dove in a white iron cage. You know never had I met such a sheltered princess in my life as you'd been. Everyone protected you and yet you somehow managed to escape that just long enough to get yourself in enough trouble on this Earth back then didn't you? I remember that day, what it was like to see the Princess unprotected. Everyone failed you that day. Just like now… this illusion of happiness is as breakable as glass. Clearly he isn't the real apple of your eye Sailor Moon. I never got the chance as one of the underestimated ones long ago, but," He looked down staring rather boldly at her. "I'm not one to say these things. Normally I have an eye for variety, but if we want to speak apples, you are the apple of-"

_**whoosh***_

Ixion stepped back to see that a red rose had embedded itself in the confine around Sailor Moon causing it to retract, as Sailor Moon fell onto her knees and hands.

"I'd hate to be a cliché but quite frankly I think we're all sick of apples, let alone those seeds. Since you seem to know so much about us, this shouldn't come to a surprise: I am here now, so your plan didn't work." Tuxedo Mask stepped into the room through the same backdoor Serena had come in from, arms crossed leaning against the doorway.

"Should have locked the door. I really wasn't expecting un-wanted guests." Ixion smirked, sending a rolling wheel of flames at the door.

Tuxedo Mask leaped away from the flames, hiding himself behind his cape for protection.

Sailor Moon lunged forward to stop Ixion when Neikia got bored with the scouts.

"I'm sick of this! Lets make more CHAOS!" Neikia through more apple-bombs everywhere in the room, like a cannon, nearly hitting Sailor Moon and her friends who were still arguing dully in the background between screams.

"Don't fry her just y–" Ixion got angry at Neikia, as she got read to shoot more out, as Tuxedo Mask helped SM up.

_"How about we cool this place off?"_

They looked over to see Neptune, Uranus and Pluto at the shop entrance.  
"Deep SUBMERGE!" Neptune called out counteracting Neikia's bombs.

"Sailor Moon, heal this girl so your friends can stop arguing!" Uranus said quickly.

"Right! Starlight Honeymoon Therapy – Kiss!"

Ixion groaned as Neikia turned back to Adori and her friends all returned to normal. He snatched the Seed of Quarrels and jumped through the glass window backwards smashing it.

"Glad I got to meet everyone this time. I'll let Charon know you actually came out to see the fun Sailor Pluto. I'm sure he'll be interested in your arrival." His gold eyes landed devilishly on Pluto, who looked concerned. "Had a good talk this time Sailor Moon. I don't plan on wasting it, so expect even more chaos next time. I'm excited for next time-" He then left in a haze of black.

"What was that about Pluto?" Neptune asked.

"I'm not sure. But Charon sounds familiar…" Pluto looked concerned. "I can't place who that is."

"What do you mean you were talking to him Serena?" Mars complained, getting up from the ground, bruised and battered with the other scouts.

"He trapped me I couldn't help it. He knows a lot about our past… I'm worried." Sailor Moon sighed.

"I'll look into Charon and Ixion tomorrow if you want… at least in terms who they may have been in our solar system. Maybe Luna and Artemis can fill in more blanks… or at least help us jog our memory." Mercury said trying to brush off her previous persona of arguing, which was out of her character.

"Serena…I'm sorry how I acted today. I guess that argument we had was so fresh In my mind…I almost got you in trouble." Tuxedo Mask turned away guilty. "I should be better than that. After what we went through before, I can't believe I almost put you in jeopardy."

"I know you didn't mean it. I gave you the charm; half of it was my fault. Ixion didn't even try to use a seed on me. I could have acted just the same."

"Why didn't he?" Uranus asked.

"I think he thought I wouldn't be affected. " Sailor Moon said skeptically. "But… I think he was wrong. I questioned myself at one point in there…"

"But if he knew that much about you that means there's a lot more to them then we know." Neptune concluded.

"Well the festival is starting soon. I bet Amori is going to wake up and need time to get her charm-shop in order." Venus said, looking at the mess that was left.

"We should get this place back together before she wakes up. We can manage being a little late." Jupiter nodded.

* * *

Adori groaned as she woke up. "What happened?" She looked around and saw her shop was empty. She'd blanked out! It was evening now! Was she mugged?

She looked to the display case. One of them was empty.

"Funny…that one had all the "apple of my eye" charms in it…" She sighed. Maybe she sold out? She'd only wanted her charms to make people happy. The pain she went through in her last relationship was too much to bear.

"Hey, are you okay? You know your front glass door is broken. Did you have a break in?"

Adori looked up from the glass to a man, with brown hair, not much older than she was.

"I can't remember. I blanked out." Adori swallowed.

"Well frankly I was about to make my way down to the Beginning of Summer festival when I noticed. I have the pottery shop across the way. I hope you didn't loose much. Although I must admit, you took away a lot of customers today." He smiled.

"I did?" Adori blinked.

"Wow, they really did a number...do you need to go to the doctor? Did you get hurt?"

"Uhm...no I don't think so." Adori blushed.

"Oh, I'm sorry my name is Masao Keramai. I shouldn't have been so informal, especially under the circumstances."

"Oh its fine! I'm happy someone came around. Frankly I'm at a loss. My name is Adori Ayakai."

"Well if you want why don't I fix that for you. I'm thinking of heading to the festival after...if you think you're okay why don't you come with? It seems like you might need a break."

"I- I-" Adori looked to the empty case. Just like the case, she needed to empty her baggage and move on from her past didn't she? She looked to Maraso and smiled.

"Sure. Sounds fun."


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 15: Puzzle Pieces Fit, But Only One By On**e

"We're still going to the festival then right?" Mina stretched her arms as they walked from the shop.

"I think it would be nice. A nice change from today…" Lita nodded. They all felt guilty about how easily they were swayed.

"You guys going to come?" Rei asked Michelle, Amara and Trista.

"No, actually we were going to look into this Seedling stuff too a bit." Amara said. "We'll come along some other outing."

"Actually I wanted to do some research…all that stuff that guy mentioned today about our past has me curious." Ami nodded to Amara.

"How about you Serena?" Rei asked.

"Well … I might." Serena nodded.

"You never were the type to pass up a festival?" Darien looked at Serena.

"I know. But it's just not the same if-"

Darien looked to Serena. "Well I'm going to go. I'll apologize to Hana tomorrow. I'm pretty sure she's already called off the course. On the other hand, if you'd rather I didn't go-"Darien said realizing he'd done damage.

"No, no I want you to come!" Serena gleamed.

"Good, we all deserve a good night out." Lita smiled. "You guys sure you want to miss it?"

"We need to look into this stuff. You girls go enjoy yourselves. " Michelle smiled kindly at them.

"Alright! Lets go get out the Kimonos!" Mina led them off the other way.

* * *

"So Ami what did you guys figure out about them so far?" Pluto asked, sitting down in Amara and Michelle's apartment.

"Luna and Artemis believe they're senshi from other dimensions of our universe. We don't know why they seem to have a grudge or where exactly the seeds come from. Sedna, Varune and Ixion are all-" Ami looked on her computer.

"-derivatives of the minor planets of our universe so far."

"What does Minor entail?"

"Well they were deemed as smaller planets, some orbiting around others. This actually includes your planet too Trista." Ami said surprised.

"I knew I was on the outer edge of the solar system already. That's why my job is to protect the gates of time. My powers are best to control it; I was bestowed one of the gifts." They recognized she was speaking of her jeweled staff.

"Well then what do they want?" Michelle looked out into the nighttime cityscape.

"They referred to us as the "guardian" senshi specifically before. They also seem to be aware of our past and the devastation of the Moon. Also they weren't killed or didn't seem to be by Galaxia." Ami listed off most the facts they knew.

"So they were there in the past, and they may have found a way to hide in the present without bringing attention to themselves." Amara speculated.

"Well it's not through the Time Portal. The lock is untouched. I could sense a presence if there was." Trista shook her head.

"They have a grudge. Maybe there was always an outlying ring of planetary senshi's independent from our own." Michelle thought aloud.

"If that's so, we need to figure out what they're hoping to get out of this. If every time they use the Seeds, we heal the people of the Earth, it seems counter productive." Ami looked at her scan of the Seed.

"We have too many questions." Amara shook her head. "What about the mention of "Charon" today?"

Ami looked at her laptop. "Charon…." She said aloud looking through information.

" Charon is the satellite Moon of …Pluto."

They looked to Trista, who looked wide-eyed at them. "Does this mean …I knew this "Charon" in the past?"

"Well, they could be the animal counterpart guardians like Phobos and Deimos …" Amara mused.

"But Luna and Artemis also told us that they were chosen guardians, often people of the Moon, who took on different forms. That doesn't mean he isn't a Senshi. Anyone could have been a guardian for Pluto's Moons." Michelle reminded.

"Then…why is he against us? Whoever Charon is, he is on our enemy team… and yet that man Ixion seemed to make my arrival sound like a grand event that this Charon would want to know about…there's something more." Trista worried on.

"Then if there is we better be careful. We are more intertwined with these enemies than we think." Amara looked off into the sky above the lights of the city and the festival music. For now it was bliss.

* * *

"It's not that easy is it? We women can be heard to tame." Sedna giggled as Ixion looked out over the city through the black glass.

"Not all of you are. Just a precious few." Ixion said rather thoughtfully. "On the other hand don't count yourself as one of the precious dear Sedna, it didn't take long for Varune to hold you down did it?" Ixion looked away from the glass and smirked to Sedna.

"Hmph." She crossed her arms.

"But you didn't have much more luck than we did." Varune entered the room. His icy aura moved through the room.

"It's not luck. Next time, I'll play on their weaknesses. This time I found out who they are…or most of them in their reincarnated human forms." Ixion shrugged. "Actually, where is Charon? Or more so what about Orcus?"

"Orcus has been with Eris for the last while." Charon appeared. His silver hair in its ponytail, bangs covered his left eye partially as he appeared in front of them. The large green hood over his vest made him look reminiscent of the human myths of Charon. But of course he was stoic, and strong. A mage of his type. He was easily as composed as Varune was, but less icy. They all knew his warmer, hidden personality was part of his past – who he used to be.

"Doing what?" Sedna asked.

"Does it matter? Our Lovely Leader's brother died what seems like days not years. Honestly I didn't think Orcus would stand in for him though." Ixion raised his brow. "But if she likes tall, dark, muscular and protective that's it. A little on the intense side but-"

"Her brother was a war leader. If Orcus amuses her, let it be." Varune signed.

"What did you want?" Charon asked Ixion.

"Well… I mean on my own expedition of lust, love and pure amusement, I happened to bump into Sailor Pluto. Funny she didn't seem to remember you…but I mean wouldn't that be fun if you jogged her memory?"

"Leave it alone."

"Oh come on! Sailor Pluto was quite a sight. She hasn't changed. Long dark hair. Red lips. Potent eyes. Tinted skin. She's the epitome of what characterizes the minors like us, and yet you wont even try to get her back? I mean you must be depraved?" Ixion smirked.

"If she hasn't changed, I don't think anything would change." Charon said.

"Ah, but if all we are doing is the trial run for the big Seeding, then why not try to change things now? I know with Psuedia in my grasp, I'm going to have fun with it. Find out which people it works the best on. Find the people I want it to work on. And in the mean time have some fun on this planet. Earth women are quite gullible. Charon you should come out with me and have some fun?"

"I thought you wanted the Moon Princess for yourself? We both failed in that we couldn't sway those we loved or lusted for away from the paths they took." Charon asked.

"I do. But it's a working progress. For now, why not have a little fun in between?" Ixion smiled.

Psuedia. Lies. Deceptions. Illusions.

What better way to have someone question everything then to play with the lies their own mind would create?

The people of this world were having a festival. Let them sit in their lovely splendors, of love, passion, fun and food.

But tomorrow he was in control.


End file.
